There From The Start
by AlyDuartsGleek
Summary: basically my idea of season one had Blaine been there instead of Matt. What if Blaine had been the 12th member of the New Direction back in season one?
1. Pilot

^(1) There From The Start

A/N: so, while on the Internet, and by that I mean tumblr I see that a lot of people are hating in Season Two and I'm just thinking "Uh, HELLO! Klaine happened in Season Two! What were YOU watching?" And it got me thinking... What if I got the magic and awesomeness of Season One and combined it with the epicness and just all around perfection of Klaine?

What if Blaine had been the twelfth member of the New Directions instead of Matt? Season One cannon, same(ish?) storyline, but with Blaine and Klaine. Not too sure what I'll change yet ;)

Also, Finn and Puck are slightly OOC in here.

XXX

"Blaine!... Blaaaaaiiiine!... BLAINE!"

"Whaaaauuuut!?" cried Blaine from under his covers, turning over and burying his face in his pillow.

His mother came in his room, knocked on the wall next to the open door, and turned on the lights. "Time to wake up! Fourth week of your sophomore year! You should be excited, not sleeping!"

Blaine simply groaned and buried his face deeper into his pillow. A person gets excited about their first week back... Not their fourth.

"Blaine... Don't make me get the ice-water."

His eyes widened and he sprung up immediately. "I'm up! I'm up! No need to get crazy, I'm up..."

"Good. Now, get ready. Your clothes are on the ironing board, breakfast is on the table," She smirked. "hair gel is in the medicine cabinet."

He smiled a sleepy smile at her and stretched his arms up over his head. "Thanks, mom," he said in a yawn.

He hopped off his bed and headed into the bathroom to wash up and brush his teeth. He walked past the washing room, grabbing his clothes and changing quickly, then headed down the stairs.

"Blaine," began his mother. "I want you to try to make some more friends this year, ok?"

Blaine swallowed a piece of toast. "What's wrong with Finn and Puck?"

"Nothing... It's just that, I would like for you to have a sleepover that doesn't involve yelling and people getting "pwned"." said Mary "Maybe you could try getting a few girlfriends."

He raised his eyebrows.

She rolled her eyes. "Not like that! God forbid that I would turn into your father... I just... I know that there's a more sensitive side of you, Blaine. You're not all dadadadadadada and hurrah!" She mimicked someone shooting a gun and some football players making hoots.

"God, I have the worlds weirdest mother..."

"I want the world to see all of you and not just "Blaine The Football Player", you know?"

Blaine nodded as he scooped up a spoonful of cereal. "Yeah, I know what you mean now... I want somebody who understands me. I mean, would it really be to much to ask that I could meet another gay kid? Someone who knows what I go through."

"You know," she began. "A boyfriend would be nice, too..."

"Mom..."

"What!? I want grandkids!"

Blaine laughed at her. He loved his mom more than anything in the world. After his dad left and Cooper graduated, they were all they had. "Then why don't you tell Coop that! He's the one who's actually in danger of impregnating someone."

She shook her head and looked up. "God forbid..." They laughed together for a good while.

"Ok, well I better be going if I want a good parking space at school. By mom. Love you." He went around the other side of the table and gave her a kiss on the cheek.

"Bye sweetie. Love you, too." He grabbed his keys and just before he left out the door. "Oh, and Blaine?"

"Yeah?"

"I was serious about the boyfriend."

Blaine rolled his eyes again. "Bye mom!"

XXX

Mr. Shue walked towards McKinley High School, passing the dumpster along the way. He saw a few of his students from his Spanish class hanging around there that he recognized, though he only remembered the name of a few. "Making some new friends, Kurt?" he asked.

Kurt, one of his most fluent and bright students, just stood there, his face frozen as if he was afraid to answer. Instead, one of his students who was on the football team answered. "He sure is, Mr. Shue!"

"Good! Hey, Finn! You still owe me that report on "Que Hacé En Su Verano Pasado". What you did last summer!" he elaborated as he passed the group of boys.

"Oh," began Finn. "I'm uh, almost halfway done with it..."

Mr. Shue gave them a thumbs up and walked away. As soon as the coast was clear, the bigger boys grabbed Kurt by his arms and began to lift him up. "Wait, please!" he cried. "This is Marc Jacobs new collection!" He was referring to his blueish purple jacket.

"Wait..." said Finn. They put Kurt down on his command. The smaller boy took off his jacket and handed it to Finn. He shrugged after taking the jacket. "Ok."

From the distance, Blaine Anderson was getting off his car, slinging his backpack over his shoulder. He heard some high pitched pleas coming from the dumpster. He looked over his car to see his two best friends and some of the guys from the football team tossing a guy in the dumpster.

"Here! Have your fruity little jacket back, Kurt!" sneered one of the jocks, tossing the jacket in the dump.

He shook his head as they exchanged hi fives and walked away towards the school.

He looked both ways before crossing the parking lot and hurried to the dumpster as the boy (apparently named Kurt) climbed out of the dump, hanging onto the edge before letting go and collapsing onto the ground with an "oof!"

Blaine saw Kurt fall and hurried a bit to help him up.

Kurt heard the sound of sneakers against the asphalt coming from behind him and cautiously turned his head to the source. He caught a glimpse of a red and beige letterman jacket. His eyes went wide and he grabbed his things quickly, scrambling up and taking off.

"Wait!" cried Blaine, picking up his pace. Kurt kept running, he wasn't about to get tossed twice in one day.

For a small guy, this kid was actually pretty fast, Blaine noticed. He followed him until he stumbled a little bit over a branch. "Crap!" cried Blaine. "Just... wait! I just wanted to help..." Blaine sighed and gave up, heading towards the building. So much for making new friends this year. "It's this damn letterman," he mumbled to himself. People just saw the letterman and instantly thought that Blaine was going to shove them, or punch them. Little did they know that he'd been through the same thing in middle school and would never EVER put anyone else through that.

Kurt kept running all the way past the bleachers and into the school until he was sure his pursuer had given up. He found a tree and leaned back on it, and sank down o the ground, tired out from the chase and breathing heavily, closing his eyes and looking up. Why was he the target for every single jock in this god forsaken school? He could only imagine how bad the torture would be if he was actually out about his sexuality.

Little did he know that there was, in fact, another gay kid at this school who was even out of the closet named Blaine. And he was popular... But they had never met each other, despite attending the same school freshman year.

After he'd caught his breath, he recollected his things and headed off to yet another day at hell.

XXX

Blaine walked down the hallways of McKinley High with his best friends, Finn Hudson and Noah "Puck" Puckerman, at his side, tossing a football between each other. Sure, it was a stereotypical thing for jocks like them to do, but it was actually genuinely fun. Plus, it made them look cooler.

Not that they needed the popularity boost, or that Blaine cared. Finn Hudson was the quarterback of the football team, and dating Quinn Fabray. Blaine and Puck were two of the best runningbacks that this school had ever seen. Sure, they hadn't won a single game last year, but that's because they were on the freshmen team. This year, on Varsity, they all just had a gut feeling that they would win... At least one game... Maybe.

They were the closest friends they had to each other. Ever since they'd met in the beginning of freshman year, they'd been inseparable. Puck and Finn were the first people Blaine had told about him being gay at this school. They'd been surprisingly cool about the whole deal... Even though they thought he was screwing around with them at first.

He still got crap about it from the other guys on the football team (especially Karofsky), but most of the time, Finn and/or Puck would come to his defense, or change the subject.

"So do you think we've got a shot at conference?" asked Blaine, tossing the ball to Finn.

"Maybe," he replied.

"Yeah," started Puck "If coach Tanaka finally gets his crap together and stops taking a ride on the magic dragon."

They were suddenly interrupted when they heard a cacophony of notes coming from the choir room. "What the fuck is that?" questioned Puck, Their faces grew curious expressions and they peeked through the door to take a look at the source of the music.

What they saw was NOT for the faint of heart. Four kids danced cheesily around the kid in the wheelchair that Puck had locked in the port-a-potty the other day who took the lead.

And I said to myself sit down, sit down, you're rockin' the boat

And the devil will drag you under With a soul so heavy you'd never float,

Sit down, sit down, sit down  
Sit down, sit down, sit down, you're rockin' the boat

Blaine found himself staring at the pale-pink boy with the blue purple Marc Jacobs jacket.

Kurt.

That was his name. He remembered because the last time Finn had thrown him in the dumpster, he let him take that same special collection jacket off. It was the boy that ran from him.

Blaine had never actually thrown someone in a dumpster, but he felt bad that his two best friends were the ones doing that. To be fair, they didn't know EXACTLY what he'd been through at his Middle School, just that he'd been pushed around a bit. They still didn't know about the Sadie Hawkins Dance incident-he'd never told anyone other than Cooper and his mom, and everyone at his old school already knew about the "queers that got their asses kicked". But he still wished he could do more to stop them from it.

"They're pretty terrible," said Blaine. "I mean, Wheelchair kid has a good voice, but the song isn't very well suited for it. And their choreography is... Well, frankly, it's just... Crap and it might as well not exist."

"Doesn't matter how bad or good they are," replied Puck. "That's completely lame! Glee Club is loserville and it doesn't help that the song sucks ass."

"I don't know..." said Blaine. "It kind of looks fun... I mean, if they had a better song selection... Maybe more Katy Perry." Blaine had wanted to try out for Glee but he'd been sick the week of auditions for the New Directions. There was no way he was auditioning while that crazy pedo Mr. Rhyerson was director. He'd missed his chance to join under safe direction.

His face brightened as an idea crossed his mind. "We should join together! Maybe Mr. Shuester would let us join if it was all three, and we could make it really fun!"

Finn gave him a look that said "Are you fucking kidding me?"

"What!?"

"Dude," started Finn. "Joining Glee Club is social suicide. You'll go from being on the top-where we are now, you see? Happy, cool, popular-straight to the bottom. It's not worth it."

Blaine looked longingly at the choir room. It wasn't the social status he cared much about (sometimes he wasn't exactly sure why he was so popular). But he didn't want to join without Finn and Puck. Contrary to popular belief, Blaine didn't have too many close friends. Acquaintances, sure, but people he let past the goofy, charming wall he put up? Exactly two, besides Cooper. He really DID want to join, but he didn't want to join alone.

He sighed sadly. "Fine, I guess."

Puck patted him on the back. "Trust me, Blaine. We're doing you a favor. Now come on, we're gonna be late for football practice."

He gave one last longing look towards the choir room (and curiously at Kurt) and sighed before following them into the locker room and then out to the field.

XXX

Finn, Puck, and Blaine were all out on the field, running agility drills when coach Tanaka called the whole team into the locker room with a blow of his whistle. "EVERYBODY IN THE LOCKER ROOM ASAP! AND HURRY UP OR YOUR DOING LAPS!" They all went into the locker room to see their Spanish teacher, Mr. Shuester leaning up against the whiteboard next to coach Tenaka. He blew his whistle loud. "Circle up! Now, Mr. Shuester is gonna talk to you guys! You don't listen, you do laps! You mouth off, you do laps! Got it? They're all yours Will."

Mr. Shue stood center room. "Thanks, Ken. Hey guys, how you doing? I think I uh, I think I recognize some of you from Spanish class. But uh, I'm here today to talk to you about something different... Music." Blaine instantly brightened. Maybe this was his chance to try to join. "Glee club needs guys." Blaine nodded along even though all the rest of the guys laughed at him. "I'm going to put the sign up sheet at the door to the locker room, so if anyone wants to sign up, please... Thank you..."

Blaine watched as Mr. Shue walked to the door and posted the sheet as coach blew his whistle and yelled "Dismissed!"

Blaine was kind of excited to see that a few guys went up to the sheet and wrote what he assumed were their names down. After he'd finished changing, when most of the guys had left, he walked up to the sheet with a pencil in tow. His face fell when he saw what the guys had really written. They tagged the sign up sheet with stupid names like, "Gaylord Wiener", "Butt Lunch", and the cleverest one of them all, right at the bottom... "Penis".

But he wasn't gonna let that get in the way. He shook his head as he brought up his arm, but someone grabbed it and stopped him.

"Whoa, whoa, WHOA! Dude!" cried Puck. Finn was right behind him. "You can't join HomoExplosion!"

Blaine looked at him condescendingly. "Really, Puck? HomoExplosion, really?"

Puck rolled his eyes and Blaine let it slide (just this once, because Puck was... Well, Puck). "Whatever, bro, it's a figure of speech. But you can't sign up for that! Like I said, it's social suicide!"

Blaine pouted. "But, Puck!" he whined. "I really wanna join! And it looks fun, so what's the harm?"

"Remember what you told me and Finn when you came out to us?" Blaine nodded. "About being bullied and shoved against lockers and slushied?"

"We actually didn't have slushies at Weston Middle, and I still think that slushying people is really bad, but what's your point?"

Puck groaned and threw his head back. Blaine could be so obli- oblivi- he couldn't pick up on clues. "It means that you're gonna have to relive that ALL over again."

Blaine swallowed and froze as images from his past flew through his mind.

*FLASHBACK*

"You two queers have fun at the dance?"

Blaine froze at Andrew's-his tormentor since seventh grade when he came out-voice. "Look, Andrew," started Connor, turning around to face the tormentor. "We aren't looking for any trouble."

"Then maybe you should stick to fucking girls instead of each other, like the rest of us *normal* people."

Blaine flinched at his remark and Connor stepped up to Andrew. "Look, we haven't done anything, so if you'll please just be on your way."

Andrew snorted. "Get 'em boys." From behind him, came three big Hockey players, closing in on him and Connor.

The next thing Blaine remembered was lying on the floor, crying out in pain as his ribcage was being kicked in, searing in pain. He heard a sickening crack coming from his side and cried out in agony.

The last thing he saw was Andrew kicking Connor's head, Connor screaming out in pain, just before he lost consciousness.

*END FLASHBACK*

Blaine started hyperventilating as tears rolled down his cheeks. Puck and Finn desperately tried to calm him down.

"Blaine, Blaine! Hey, BLAINE!"

Blaine snapped back to reality and his breathing calmed a bit, though it was still heavy. "I'm s-so-sorry." he stuttered as he wiped his face and drew in a shaky breath.

"Blaine," said Finn, narrowing his eyes. "Is there something you're not telling us? I don't think I'm that stupid."

Blaine shook his head and swallowed. They were his best friends, but he wasn't ready to confide in anybody about that yet. "No it's just... Bullying... When you said that... It brought back memories about being thrown against lockers and stuff like that... Which is WHY I think you should stop throwing JBI and Kurt in the dumpster!" He desperately wanted to change the subject before Puck and Finn got too curious.

Finn and Puck rolled their eyes. "Dude," said Puck. "Closet case Hummel gets thrown in the dumpster cause he's a loser-now a Glee nerd-not cause he's gay."

Blaine furrowed his eyebrows. "Wait a second, Kurt's gay?"

Finn laughed. "Not openly... Wait! Dude! Stop def- delft- Stop changing the subject! The point is that you can't join Glee without ruining your rep!"

Blaine sighed and looked down at the ground. "I guess."

"There's my bro. Now come on, let's go... Before coach makes us run laps again."

Blaine gave one last longing look at the sign up sheet with a sad sigh as they walked down the hall away from the locker room.

XXX

A few days later, Blaine was walking past the auditorium when he heard a vaguely familiar melody coming from that direction.

_**Da, da, da, da**_  
_**Da, da, da, da**_  
_**Da, da, da, da**_  
_**Da, da, da, da**_

There was no denying what song it was when he heard a boys' voice take over the first voice.

_**Just a small town girl**_  
_**Living in a lonely world**_  
_**She took the midnight train going anywhere**_

A girls voice took over the next verse

_**Just a city boy**_  
_**Born and raised in south Detroit**_  
_**He took the midnight train going anywhere**_

Blaine found himself tapping his hands along to the melody, even smiling slightly. He walked into the auditorium and froze when he saw what he saw.

Finn was singing lead with some Jewish girl, while the wheelchair kid played a guitar riff, and Kurt, an Asian goth girl, and a Black girl with a slight 'fro sang backup vocals.

The smile faded from his face. The music was amazing, but Blaine was hurt that Finn signed up without him, considering he knew how much Blaine had initially wanted to join. Talk about hypocrisy.

He shook his head and walked away. Maybe it just wasn't meant to be...

XXX

A/N: soooooooooooo... Review? Tell me whatchya think, please?

Just so there's no confusion. Blaine is a sophomore, a football player, and openly gay. Also, Finn, Blaine, and Puck are slightly OOC... Just slightly...

Review?


	2. Showmance

^(2) There From The Start

A/N: just a fair warning, this might suck ass because I had it finished and I accidentally deleted it! God, I hate the feeling when that happens... And yes. It's happened before... It effing sucks...

Dear iPod...

I AM TRYING TO EMAIL IT TO MYSELF, NOT DELETE IT YOU DIPFUCK!

That awkward moment when you start yelling at inanimate objects...

I'm insane :)

XXX

Finn was at his locker, retrieving his Spanish book, when Blaine passed him in the hallway. He remembered that he was going to need help with the geometry homework, so he called him out. "Blaine! Hey, Blaine!"

Blaine, still quite upset that Finn stopped him from joining Glee, ignored him.

Finn narrowed his eyebrows and followed him. "Hey, dude! What's with the chilly willy?"

Blaine turned and faced him. "You joined Glee Club!? After you knew how much I wanted to join and then practically begged me not to! Do you realize how hypocritical and sanctimonious that is?"

Finn closed his eyes and rubbed his temples with a sigh. "Look, it's not like that, Blaine. And remember what I said about using words with more than three syllables?"

"Really, would you care to explain to me what it's like, then? Why would you do that? After you knew that I wanted to join? The only reason I didn't is because I didn't want to go at it alone."

Finn sighed. "I don't know... Maybe it's because I don't exactly think things through... But I'll tell you what, after school, I'll take you to Glee with me and you can join then. There's an assembly and we're performing, but don't judge us on that because we're doing disco-"

"I LOVE disco!" exclaimed Blaine with an ecstatic smile. "Are you doing the BeeGees?"

"I have no idea who they are... And our version isn't exactly... Well, good. At all. But like I said, I'll put in a good word and you can join today after school."

Blaine brightened. "Really? You'd do that for me?" he placed a hand over his chest.

Finn rolled his eyes. "I guess I owe it to you, anyways. Don't go getting all emotional on me, kay? People will think we're dating." Finn mock punched his friend on the shoulder as Blaine rolled his eyes and watched as Finn walked away.

Blaine smiled and shook his head at his goofball of a friend. As he turned around, he crashed headfirst into an innocent bystander. Binders, pencils, notebooks, and backpacks went flying in every direction. As Blaine rubbed the spot on his head where he'd crashed into the other guy, he heard a high pitched, "Oh-oh my gosh! I'm so sorry!"

At first, he thought it might have been the small bump on his head, but this kid literally sounded like an angel...

Blaine wiped his jeans off, rubbing his head a little as he collected his belongings and slung his backpack over his shoulder. He offered a hand to the boy. It was the same boy he had seen the other day in the choir room. The same boy that ran from him in the parking lot. It was Kurt.

Kurt flinched as the hand was extended to him. "Please don't hurt me... Or slushy me... Or throw pee balloons at me... Or nail my furniture to the roof..."

Blaine shook his head. He really needed to talk to Finn and Puck about that. "I can't believe they're that bad," he muttered half to himself. "Cmon, get up. As much as I've tried to get them to stop, that's more Puck and Finn's thing."

Kurt glanced at his hand warily. One thing he'd learned in his short high school career was that you never trusted a football player you just met. Even if they had gorgeous hazel eyes that were full of sincerity and soft curls that were tamed by an over usage of hair gel.

Kurt blushed and turned his head away as he realized he was staring. He took the strangers hand and stood up as Blaine introduced himself. He noticed that Blaine had strong arms... Very strong arms. His voice seemed vaguely familiar, too.

"I'm Blaine. Blaine Anderson."

"Kurt Hummel," he introduced himself with a smile.

"I know." Kurt raised and eyebrow. Crap... Now he looked like a freaking stalker... And it didn't help that he had sort of chased him yesterday. He facepalmed. "I mean, I know your name because last time Finn threw you in the dumpster, he let you take off your Marc Jacobs jacket. I don't though, throw people in dumpsters, that is. I was actually trying to help you yesterday morning because you fell and I thought you had hurt your leg or something. But you ran. Sorry if I freaked you out. I do like Marc Jacobs, though. I think Finn might've stopped when he joined Glee. Did he? Dumping people in dumpsters? I don't know, I hope so, but you guys are really good! I saw you guys do "Don't Stop Believing" and it was really really good! Well, it was a heck of a lot better than "Sit Down You're Rocking The Boat" not that things could get much worse than that but Finn said he'd take me to join later today and oh dear, I'm rambling, aren't I?"

Kurt giggled a little, accompanied by a small smile. "Yeah, just a little." His eyes widened. "Wait a second... That was you the other day?"

"I uh, um... Yeah... Sorry... I'm just not very good at talking to new people. I have no idea what I would've said had I caught up with you." he rubbed the back of his head nervously.

Kurt furrowed his eyebrows. "Really? Why would a funny, charming, and cute guy like yourself have trouble in that department?" Kurt mentally facepalmed as he realized he called Blaine cute. He was usually careful about that, but something about Blaine made him lower his guard down.

Blaine shrugged. "Contrary to popular belief, I'm not extremely outgoing."

"Oh... Sorry about running from you..."

Blaine laughed nervously. "Ha, um. It's ok... I probably would've ran, too. I wouldn't hurt you, though."

Kurt had heard that before. We won't hurt you. He never ever believed any of the jocks that had told him that, and with reason. But he found that when he looked at Blaine, he truly believed that he wasn't in any danger. "Why not?"

"I know what it's like to be bullied and teased. Thrown in the dumpster."

"Why would you get teased?" asked Kurt.

Blaine laughed bitterly. "Because people are arrogant assholes."

Kurt nodded. He know all to well. "Well, you mentioned you wanted to join Glee Club, right? Well, we're performing at the assembly today-"

"Yeah," interrupted Blaine "Finn told me. He's one of my best friends. You guys are doing disco, right?"

"Yeah, but the song is really gay, so don't judge us off of that..."

Blaine flinched a little at the remark and Kurt questioned why... Oh, crap! What if Blaine was gay and he'd just offended him? Wait... What if Blaine WAS on his team? Yeah, right. Like Kurt would be so lucky to meet a guy like him who happened to be gay.

Blaine was a bit disappointed to see that Kurt wasn't gay. If he made remarks like that, he couldn't be, right? It was only common sense. "Well, nice to meet you, Kurt. I'll see you later, then." he bid his goodbye with a bit of disappointment.

Kurt smiled and waved as Blaine turned to leave. "Later." He stood in awe as he realized the he- Kurt Hummel, straight A student, Glee clubber,- had just done what society deemed impossible.

He had become friends with a jock.

XXX

Blaine filed into the gymnasium with the crowd of hormonal adolescents and ran into Puck. "Hey, Blainers!"

"Don't call me that." warned Blaine.

Puck rolled his eyes. "Whatever, whatever, I ship what I want."

"What the actual fuck was that?"

He shrugged. "Not a clue... Did you hear that Gleek Club is performing today?"

Blaine nodded nonchalantly. "I'm joining today after school with Finn." He gave Puck a half glare, daring him to challenge his decision, which he did.

Puck's eyes widened and then he groaned and threw his head back. "Not you, too! I'm gonna be the only one of us three that's gonna have any dignity left," he said as they took a seat on the bleachers.

Blaine rolled his eyes at his friend's ignorance. "As if you even know what that means. Now, Shut up, the shows about to start."

"Hello, McKinley High." said Figgins in his usual monotone voice. "We have a special treat for you today! Please welcome onto the stage, McKinley High's New Directions!"

Blaine-or the rest of the school, for that matter- was NOT ready for what came next.

Get up on this!

Wait... What? The curtains opened an revealed the Jewish girl named Rachel, a kid in a wheelchair named Artie, an Asian girl who's name escaped him, a Black girl who's name was Michelle or something like that, Finn, and Kurt, all wearing skinny blue jeans (except for Rachel) and a blue shirt. Artie took on a voice over part of the song.

_**Now wait a minute, y'all**_  
_**This dance ain't for everybody**_  
_**Only the sexy people**_  
_**So all you fly mothers, get on out there and dance**_  
_**Dance, I said!**_

Rachel took over the first verse of the song. She was singing really well, but the singing wast what was interesting. Oh, no. That wasn't what Blaine was focusing on...

_**Salt and Pepa's here, and we're in effect**_  
_**Want you to push it, babe**_  
_**Coolin' by day then at night working up a sweat**_  
_**C'mon girls, let's go show the guys that we know**_  
_**How to become number one in a hot party show**_  
_**Now push it**_

Blaine's eyes widened as he er... Noticed... That Kurt was running his hands down his torso and... Hips... And legs... And..._** STOP**__! Think dapper thoughts, Blaine! Dapper! No! Those are definitely __**NOT**__ dapper!_

**_Ah, push it - push it good_**  
**_Ah, push it - push it real good_**  
**_Ah, push it - push it good_**  
**_Ah, push it - p-push it real good_**

As Blaine continued to watch (it was more like staring, really) he felt that he was having a uh... Problem... In that area... Down there.

_**Oooh, baby, baby**_  
_**Baby, baby**_  
_**Oooh, baby, baby**_  
_**Baby, baby**_

Kurt slapped Finn's butt and, awkwardly... Blaine was turned on..._ DAPPER THOUGHTS! I SWEAR, THOSE ARE THE __**LEAST**__ DAPPER THOUGHTS YOU COULD POSSIBLY HAVE RIGHT NOW!_

**_Push it good_**  
**_Push it real good_**

**_Yo, yo, yo, yo, baby-pop_**  
**_Yeah, you come here, gimme a kiss_**  
**_Better make it fast or else I'm gonna get pissed_**  
**_Can't you hear the music's pumpin' hard like I wish you would?_**  
**_Now push it_**

Puck noticed Blaine's "problem" and laughed. "What's wrong, Blainey? Hummel giving you some trouble in Australia? You know, Down Under?"

Blaine turned bright red and crossed his legs. He turned to Puck with a defiant and slightly condescending look. "Is Rachel giving you some trouble?"

"Dude! Why are you looking at my crotch?" Puck asked with mock horror, throwing his hands over his groin area jokingly.

"Why were you looking at mine?" retorted Blaine with an eyebrow raised.

"Touché."

_**Push it good**_  
_**P-push it real good**_

_**Ah, push it**_  
_**Get up on this!**_

_**Ah, push it**_

The entire gymnasium was silent for a few tension filled seconds. Jacob Ben Israel suddenly stood up, screaming "YES!" followed by the rest of the student body joining in on his riot.

As they filed out of the gym in a disorganized fashion, Puck turned to Blaine. "Ok, so maybe-just maybe-they're not as sexless and lame as I thought they were, but that doesn't change the fact that the rest of the school still thinks it's lame! They'll rag on you like no tomorrow! I mean, I had to shoot Finn with paintballs because he joined!"

"You shot Finn with a paintball gun!?"

"Exactly! He's one of my two best bros and I was forced to do that to him! You have to stick to the status quo, Blaine..."

Blaine gave him a look that read 'are you fucking kidding me?'. "Please tell me that you did NOT just quote High School Musical..."

"I have a little sister, ok?" Puck defended. "Fine! Whatever! Join Glee Club. But don't come crying to me when you get slushied or tossed in the dumpster alongside JBI! Now, I have to go... I have English... Or geometry... Something like that," He waved Blaine off with a flick of his wrist and went on his way to his next class.

Blaine shook his head at his friends ignorance. He laughed it off, and for the rest of the day just became excited for it to end.

XXX

Finn and Blaine walked side by side down the west wing towards the choir room. Blaine had a goofy smile on his face and was jumping up and down a bit excitedly. "Will you calm down for a sec?" laughed Finn.

"Sorry," apologized Blaine. "I'm just really excited!"

Finn turned to you. "This really means a lot to you, doesn't it?"

Blaine shrugged. "I can't explain it. But when it comes to music, performing... I just feel like I can be my complete self without... Without being judged..."

Finn opened and closed his mouth and looked down. "That was-that was really deep." Finn hardly ever got to see the side of Blaine that wasn't just some fun, charismatic person. But he did know that Blaine had been hurt before. It was times like this that reminded him of that.

Blaine laughed. "What happened to "Don't go getting all emotional on me"?" he said as they turned into the choir room.

The casual chatter going throughout the room stopped as soon as any of the New Directions spotted Blaine. They all stared at him as if he was an alien, which, he might as well have been. It was unusual for anybody-especially a football player other than Finn-to be seen in their safe haven.

"Who the hell is this, white boy?" Mercedes asked Kurt.

Kurt smiled and gave a small wave towards Blaine, who grinningly returned the wave, much to the curiosity of everyone in the room. "That's Blaine," he answered. "He's on the football team with Finn and he wanted to join."

"You gotta be shittin' me..."

"Hey guys," began Finn. "This is Blaine Anderson, one of my best friends and he wanted to join us!"

"That's great!" laughed Mr. Shue with a small clap of his hands.

"Out of his own free will?" asked Rachel. "The only reason you joined was to pass your Spanish class," she said with spite in her voice. Ever since after the Push It performance, Kurt had noticed that she seemed to be quite angry with him. "We all know that Quinn is here to keep an eye on you and Brittany and Santana are just here because of their inability to make their own decisions." The ditzy blonde and bitchy Latina gave her glares.

"But I'm not handicapped," said Brittany. Santana facepalmed.

"Nah," said Finn with a dismissive wave of his hands. "Blaine actually wants to be here." He was met with raised eyebrows. "No, wait, that came out wrong, not that I-I don't want to... Be... Here... Um..."

"I think you've done enough talking, Finn." interrupted Mr. Shue. "Well, Mr. Blaine Anderson, welcome to the New Direc-"

He was abruptly interrupted by Rachel clearing her throat, crossing her arms, and raising a hand.

"Ah, yes, Rachel?" he furrowed his eyebrows.

"Are we really going to let him in without a proper audition?" There was a collective eye-rolling. A short silence. "Well?" she said, recrossing her arms with an expectant look on her face.

Blaine turned bright red. He didn't think he'd have to audition in front of people. He just figured he would join and that this would be a group thing.

Mr. Shue gave him an apologetic look and shrugged (wait, wasn't he supposed to be in charge, here?). Blaine nodded and walked over to Brad and whispered something inaudible to everyone else. Brad smiled and gave him a thumbs up sign.

Rachel had a smug look on her face. There was no way this guy could be good at singing. Just under average, maybe, just maybe. But good? She didn't think so. Besides, she was tired of their safe haven being infiltrated by the shallow entities that society called the "in" crowd.

As soon as Blaine opened his mouth, that smirk was wiped clean off her face.

**_I've been alone_**  
**_Surrounded by darkness_**  
**_I've seen how heartless_**  
**_The world can be_**

**_I've seen you crying_**  
**_You felt like it's hopeless_**  
**_I'll always do my best_**  
**_To make you see_**

**_Baby, you're not alone_**  
**_Cause you're here with me_**  
**_And nothing's ever gonna bring us down_**  
**_Cause nothing can keep me from lovin' you_**  
**_And you know it's true_**  
**_It don't matter what'll come to be_**  
**_Our love is all we need to make it through_**

Kurt sat there, mouth slightly hanging open, frozen in amazement. The song itself was amazing, but the emotion behind it... He wondered how Blaine would sound if there was actually a reason for him to sing it besides an audition. He could only imagine.

_**Now I know it ain't easy**_  
_**But it ain't hard trying**_  
_**Every time I see you smiling**_  
_**And I feel you so close to me**_  
_**And you tell me**_

_**Baby, you're not alone**_  
_**Cause you're here with me**_  
_**And nothing's ever gonna bring us down**_  
_**Cause nothing can keep me from lovin' you**_  
_**And you know it's true**_  
_**It don't matter what'll come to be**_  
Our love is all we need to make it through

Blaine had begun to feel a bit nervous with everyone staring at him and everything. He looked at Kurt and smiled a bit when he realized it made him a bit more comfortable.

Kurt saw Blaine smile at him and felt butterflies in his stomach.

_**I still have trouble**_  
_**I trip and stumble**_  
_**Trying to make sense of things sometimes**_  
_**I look for reasons**_  
_**But I don't need 'em**_  
_**All I need is to look in your eyes**_  
And I realize

For a few seconds, as Blaine sang, the two locked eyes. It may have seemed incredibly cheesy, considering that the lyrics were literally "look in your eyes", but it was the most amazing experience either of them had ever had.

They simultaneously ripped their gazes away from each other, both afraid that the other noticed their staring.

But the butterflies wouldn't go away.

_**Baby I'm not alone**_  
_**Cause you're here with me**_  
_**And nothing's ever gonna take us down**_  
_**Cause nothing can keep me from lovin' you**_  
_**And you know it's true**_  
_**It don't matter what'll come to be**_  
_**Our love is all we need to make it through**_

Kurt averted his eyes and they landed on Finn. He smiled. But it wasn't the same as when he smiled at Blaine. He didn't like Blaine, though, because that was already taken by Finn. Right? Could you like two guys at once?

**_Cause you're here with me_**  
**_And nothing's ever gonna bring us down_**  
**_Cause nothing, nothing, nothing can keep me from lovin' you_**  
**_And you know it's true_**  
**_It don't matter what'll come to be_**  
**_You know our love is all we need_**  
**_Our love is all we need to make it through_**

The room was silent for a few seconds, finally broken by Santana with a "Damn..."

"Don't bother, Satan." began Rachel. "He doesn't play for your team." Being the only child of two dads, Rachel had amazing gaydar. So good, in fact, that she could even tell who was in the closet or not. Blaine was not in the closet at all. She'd let Satan and Kurt come out when they were ready.

Kurt brightened just in the slightest. So Blaine was open. He looked down at the ground and bit the inside of his lip. Unlike me... He thought.

Santana scoffed and rolled her eyes. "Don't you think I know that? Blaine isn't a part of your crowd, hobbit. He's with ours, so I knows what's down with them. By the way," she added as she turned to Blaine with a flirtatious smirk. "If you ever have doubts, or wanna give our team a test run," she winked at him.

Blaine looked side to side uncomfortably... Um can you say awkward?

"Totally open." Kurt felt an odd sensation in his stomach coiling up. Like some instinct inside of him was just screaming "mine"... Wait... What?

"Just like your legs," remarked Mercedes.

"You wanna say that to my face, frizzball!?"

"I think I just did!"

Blaine just stood at the front of the room awkwardly.

"Ok!" cut in Mr. Shue before things got any uglier. "I think that I speak for everyone when I say..." everyone waited and he smiled.

"Welcome to the New Directions!"

XXX

A/N: I know you might be thinking "No! Kurt! Why do you still like Finn!?" Well, I'm really sorry, but I got this idea from a reaction I thought Blaine might have if he was there when Finn did a mean thing and I hope that didn't give too much away or just confuse you...

The point is, I need his crush to still be alive. Even though I am shipping them so bad right now. I'm frustrating myself with all the sexual Klaine tension!

So, it may go away, but it'll come back yeah I'm not making sense but whatevs it's 3AM

Review? It means faster updates! *imagine that in a singsongy voice*


	3. Acafellas

^(3) There From The Start

The New Directions were practicing the new steps Mr. Shue was teaching them when suddenly, Rachel interrupted them. "Stop, please, stop!" She yelled.

"Rachel," he started. "I told you. You don't have to ask to use the bathroom, just go."

"It's not my bladder..." She looked around warily. "It's the choreography."

He turned around and looked at her. "Okay, what's wrong with the choreography?"

"We can't compete with Vocal Adrenaline with these steps. You're a great vocal coach, Mr. Shue, but you're not... A trained choreographer. That's what we need to be the best. We need Dakota Stanley. He was the understudy for candelabra for Beauty and the Beast on Broadway, you know."

Mr. Shue put his hands down on the piano gently. "Just because he understudied, doesn't mean he ever performed." There was a hint of envy in his voice.

Quinn stepped up. "Did YOU ever perform, Mr. Shuester? After Highschool. Did you even try?"

The room was silent as they waited for an answer. Finally, it came. "No... I wanted to... But no."

"Didn't think so..." She muttered. Then, louder, she added. "Who's going to call Dakota?"

Mr. Shue nodded and as the children chattered excitedly, he walked out of the choir room. But it wasn't missed by Blaine who saw the disappointed look on his face. Everone grew silent when they realized he left.

"Maybe we should kill two birds with one stone and spy on VA while we scope out Dakota?" suggested Santana, finally breaking the silence.

(Almost) Everyone agreed excitedly. "Then it's settled!" exclaimed Rachel. "We'll go after school tomorrow... But we do still need Mr. Shue... I-I think I'll have to apologize..."

"Ya think?" remarked Blaine rolling his eyes at her.

She glared at him, then rolled her eyes. "I'll just bake him my famous sugar cookies. Then, he'll come back and we'll have the best vocal coach AND choreographer. Nothing will stand in our way of winning regionals."

XXX

A about a week and a half later, Rachel burst through the doors of the choir room holding a plate of sugar cookies. "He's not coming..." she said as she plopped the cookies down in the piano. "He started some stupid boy band with his stupid friends..."

Finn cut in. "Of course he doesn't want anything to do with us after you kicked him in the nads!"

She scoffed. "Then _why_ did he thank me?"

"I believe it's called being dapper," interjected Blaine.

Santana cut them all off. "The goal is to win. And now that Mr. Shuester has agreed to let us hire Dakota Stanley, we can."

"But he doesn't want us to!" exclaimed Finn. "He just doesn't have the confidence to coach us anymore."

"Yeah..." said Blaine. "Guys are real sensitive when it comes to this kind of stuff." Brittany opened her mouth, but Blaine cut her off with a slight eye rolling. "No, Brittany, just because I'm gay does not mean that I'm part girl. Now please stop trying to convince me otherwise..."

After a few second of confused exchanged glances, Rachel blew it off and gave them her best bitch glare. "And that's my fault that he's insecure?"

Blaine shrugged. "You see anyone else in here with a plate of "I'm Sorry" cookies?"

"I don't..." said Finn. "Just you..."

Quinn rolled her eyes and stood up. "I'm bored! All those in favor of hiring Dakota Stanley?"

Brittany, Santana, and Quinn (of course all the Cheerios) raised up their hands. Blaine looked around and was disappointed to see that Tina, Mercedes, and Kurt all had their hands up. Rachel was nearly the last to raise her hand with a defiant look towards Finn and Blaine. Artie finally raised his hand and they looked at him with disappointment.

"I guess it's settled then." said Rachel.

XXX

Mercedes was leaning against her locker with Blaine at her side. She and him had become somewhat close friends over the past few weeks and by omission, so had he and Kurt. Kurt came around the corner and opened his locker. She was looking longingly at Puck and Santana making out in the middle of the hallway. "You ever kissed anybody?" she asked. Blaine furrowed his eyebrows, wondering how she didn't feel so awkward just staring...

"Yes." said Kurt. Blaine's ears perked up and he raised his eyebrows. "If by someone you mean the tender crook of my elbow." Blaine laughed and held out his fist. Kurt raised an eyebrow.

"Well, its an improvement from flinching... Like this," said Blaine. He grabbed Kurt's wrist with his free hand and curled his hand into a fist. He paused briefly, taking note on how he felt little tingled where their skin met. He held Kurt's hand in his own, realizing that he really didn't want to let go.

A smile tugged at Kurt's lips. Jocks were odd sometimes, but Blaine was really sweet. Still rather odd, but different odd. Cute, even. He finally brought their fists together. "And that's how you fist-bump."

Kurt laughed and shook his head, blushing slightly. "No... I haven't really kissed anybody, but I want to." Blaine looked at Kurt, unable to read him.

"What about you, Blaine?" If Blaine had been drinking something, he might have done a spit take.

"Well... Uh... Yeah... In middle school, I kissed two girls before I realized I was gay." He blushed and rubbed the back of his neck nervously. "It felt kinda weird... But I've never kissed a guy."

She kept staring at Puck and Santana in the middle of the hallway.

"Ok," said Kurt. "Stop it right there!" he shut his locker and turned to her. "Mercedes, we are in Glee Club. That means we are at the bottom of the social heap. Special Ed kids will get more play than us... The only ones in Glee that have a chance at getting any action are Finn, Blaine, and the Cheerios. The only thing that gets me by is my knowledge that we are superior to all of them."

"Hey!" piped up Blaine.

Kurt rolled his eyes and smiled. "Well, I'm still superior to you, but you actually have potential... You're a really good singer."

"That's much better," said Blaine banteringly. He smiled. "And thanks."

Kurt returned the smile and took Mercedes by her arm as Blaine tagged along by taking her other arm. But she kept staring at Kurt. "What are you guys wearing on our Operation Dakota Stanley field trip?"

"Is there a dress code?" Mercedes questioned.

"No, but every moment of your life is an opportunity for fashion!"

"This is true." said Blaine, nodding.

Kurt raised an eyebrow and glanced at him. "Says the guy wearing jeans, a button up shirt with a bow tie and letterman."

Blaine laughed. "Touché... My mom picks my clothes out... Except the bow-ties! She's not allowed to touch those!"

"If you were straight," said Mercedes. "You would only get hit on because you're cute. Sorry, Blaine, but you have less game than I have weave."

Kurt laughed. "Maybe he just doesn't show it."

Just then someone in the hall yelled, "Get a room!" Blaine felt the color rise to his face and didn't have the guts to look directly at Kurt anymore.

Kurt rolled his eyes, somewhat used to the teasing. Though he was blushing on the inside. "We'll all hit the mall after school, meet me at lunch, okay guys?"

Blaine and Mercedes smiled at him as he walked away. "Okay..." they both answered dreamily.

After a few seconds of staring after him, Blaine realized that his class was on the other side of school. "Crap!" he looked at his watch. "Catch you later, 'Cedes."

He waved her off and hurried off to his class. But not before capturing a quick, "You should totally scoop that!" by Quinn who had followed Mercedes and had Santana and Brittany close behind.

He faltered his steps a little, wondering if he had heard right, but in the end, kept on walking to his class.

XXX

Blaine caught Kurt in the middle of the hallway the next passing period. "Kurt!"

Kurt turned and smiled when he saw Blaine. "Hey!"

"So uh, Kurt... I know you like theatre and musicals and musical theatre, and..." He looked down at his feet as he shuffled them lightly and rubbed the back of his head shyly. "I was wondering if you would like to go the Sing Along Sound Of Music on Thursday with me..."

Kurt blushed, but smiled. "Um yeah! That's great. I'll call 'Cedes and tell her if that's ok with you? She's more Top40, but I'm trying to make her a bit more cultured."

Blaine's face wavered a little, but he kept his usual dapper smile on his face. He thought of telling Kurt that he thought it was just going to be the two of them, but... He couldn't. Yeah, you know that thing called confidence? Blaine had little. "Um yeah... That-that's fine..." besides, he'd feel bad leaving her behind.

Kurt smiled and clapped his hands together enthusiastically. "Great! Well, I gotta go, but I'll see you later, kay?"

"Ok." and once again, Kurt left Blaine walking away with that same goofy smile.

XXX

The New Directions piled out of Kurt's car. "Damn, Kurt! This car is fly!" said Mercedes.

"My dad got it for my sweet 16 after I swore to stop wearing form fitting sweaters that stop at the knee." Blaine gave a good look at Kurt's outfit (not that he was staring... Even if he looked really good in it...). Skinny jeans that complimented his legs very well with a red form fitting sweater that stopped at the knee. He gave Kurt a sideways glance. "What he doesn't know won't hurt him."

Kurt laced his arm through Mercedes' and Tina and Rachel gave him a funny look. "I'm just so nervous that these VA kids are gonna laugh at us." she said nervously. "They're so cool and popular, and we look like we just stepped off the short bus."

"Those sweaty Nazis have just have more time to practice. We have more heart." Blaine smiled at Kurt. They did have more heart than Vocal Adrenaline. They were soulless automatons that were in it simply to win, rather than the music. That would be their fatal flaw. Their heartlessness. "And you don't looked touched on the head. That outfit is amazing!" complimented Kurt.

Mercedes laughed and a look of realization came across Blaine's face. She was in love with Kurt, too. Wait, too? No? She was just in love with Kurt.

"So would you ever, you know, wanna hang out?" asked Mercedes. Blaine stiffened. What was this odd feeling? It was so weird but vaguely familiar to whenever Cooper visited. Jealously? Well, crud...

"Come over," said Kurt. "It's Liza Minnelli week on AMC." Blaine had never envied anybody more than Mercedes. Liza Minnelli was one of his many areas of expertise.

They ran into one of the lead singers outside, who was hurling into the garbage can while another girl attempted to comfort her. "You can't leave rehearsal under any circumstance! That includes Chron's Disease and heat exhaustion."

"Um, excuse us," introduced Rachel. "Is Dakota in there?"

"Don't do it!" the puking girl warned. "He's a monster!"

Undeterred by the girl's warning, they walked inside and were met with Vocal Adrenaline's mind blowing performance of Mercy. The dancing was perfectly synchronized, their vocals were perfectly harmonized, and the backflips... BACKFLIPS! They might've been soulless automatons, but damn, could they give a show.

**_"GET OFF MY STAGE NOW!"_** screeched Dakota.

Afterwards, they ran into Dakota and tried to stop him, but he blew them off almost completely.

"Dakota Stanley!?"

"I charge 10,000 per number and a bonus 8,000 if you place in the top three. And with Dakota Stanley at the wheel, you WILL place in the top three."

He drove off, leaving the astounded glee clubbers with nothing but awe and no idea how to come up with 18,000 dollars.

XXX

"Your rims are clean." said an exasperated Mercedes as she came up from washing Kurt's car. "We've polished them like, three times already!"

Blaine smiled and laughed. "I actually don't mind working with cars. My dad and I fixed a car together." Of course, he didn't elaborate on the circumstances of why his dad wanted to fix the car.

Kurt smiled at Blaine. Wow... He really was cute, wasn't he? He was cuter than Finn, but he wasn't just going to settle for him because he was the only other gay guy there. Would it be settling? If the guy had curly hair and honey eyes and a cute, goofy smile and he could could sing so dreamily and looked like a really cute Harry Potter? Did he mention how cute he was?

Kurt quickly turned his gaze away as he realized that he was staring and quickly changed the subject. "Did you bring a change of clothes? Because we're going straight to the sing along Sound Of Music."

Blaine froze when he heard Mercedes's response. "So, listen, Kurt. This is like, the third time we've gone out. Can we just make it official?" Blaine's froze. He still was unsure about Kurt's sexuality and, ok, so maybe he liked him... Just a little...

"Make what official?"

"You know, that we're dating!" Blaine swallowed and waited for Kurt's response.

"I'm sorry, Mercedes. But I thought I made it very clear." Guh, this was driving Blaine insane! "I'm in love with someone else." His heart dropped about a thousand stories as he saw Kurt look in Rachel's direction. Great. Not only was Kurt straight, but he was in love with (of all people) Rachel...

Mercedes turned her head. "_RACHEL_?"

"Yes... For several years now." Blaine literally wanted to crawl under a rock an die, but he apparently wasn't as upset as Mercedes because she grabbed a rock and threw it straight through his windshield. Their eyes went wide and they gaped at her. Mercedes went into a minor trance, staring into space.

"You busted my window!" he cried. "How could you do that? You busted my window!"

Mercedes seemed to snap out of her trance. "Well you busted my heart." And with that, she dropped her sponge and stormed sassily away, leaving Kurt and Blaine alone.

"Well she's pissed, isn't she?" said Blaine. Kurt threw himself against his car and sank to the floor as he ran his hands through his hair. He buried his face in his hands. "Hey... Its just a windshield, your dad can fix it, can't he?"

Blaine sat down next to him and placed a comforting arm over his shoulders. "It's not that..." He looked down and started crying. "I just feel so horrible that I hurt her, you know... I didn't mean to, though! God, she's one of my few friends and I- I don't want to lose her because of something I can't change... Something I only wish I could change at times..." His lower lip quivered and he buried his head into Blaine's chest.

Blaine shushed him as he stroked his head. "Sh... It's ok... I'll talk to her later, ok? She'll get over it."

Kurt lifted his head and looked Blaine directly in his eyes. "Thank you," he whispered, then he reburied his head comfortably into Blaine's chest.

XXX

Dakota Stanley was passing out packets to every Glee Club member except the Cheerios, something about personalized meal plans for the next six months.

"Mine just says coffee." said Mercedes.

Rachel got a fish called smelt that was apparently healthy? What the hell was going on? Blaine looked in his and it seemed he couldn't eat meat anymore.

Breakfast: Splenda.  
Lunch: Celery.  
Dinner: N/A.

Screw that! There was no way he was missing his mothers meatloaf on Thursday! Or her spaghetti on Tuesdays. And celery was probably one of the most disgusting things he could think of, right next to onions. So gross... He shuddered at the thought of having to eat the bland food.

"Ok let's get down to business." Started Dakota. "Artie you're cut, you're not trying hard enough."

"At what?" he cautiously questioned.

"At walking! We can't be wheeling you around during every number. It throws off the whole dynamic and it's depressing." Blaine furrowed his eyebrows. This wasn't right! They couldn't kick Artie out just because he was handicapped!

"So you're kicking him out?" asked Mercedes.

"Mm-Hm. You too. Youse got to go, Effie." Her eyes widened and her hands flailed in a bit of an "excuse me?" motion. She looked just about ready to attack the elf from hell. Luckily, Blaine was there to hold her back. She might've killed the bastard...

Kurt was getting fed up with him. "You can't kick people out of Glee Club just because you don't like the way they look!" Even though he was still mad at Mercedes, she didn't deserve that!

"Why don't you shut your face-gash and stay away from aerosol cans because you could burst into flames at any second?" Kurt was about to yell out to him that it was organic, meaning that there was significantly less aerosol in it, but before he could, Dakota stepped up to the Cheerios. "You three you're great you're perfect. Seriously, don't change a thing." He stepped to Rachel. "Uh you- ew. Nose job!" He walked to Blaine. "Tone down the hair gel! I can see my reflection in there! Do you even need a helmet for football? And what the hell is up with the bow ties? Seriously."

Finn cut him off. "Now just hold on a second-"

"What? What was that? Frankenteen? Why don't you wipe that dopey look off your face and get some lotion for those knuckles you've been dragging on the ground?"

"What the hell is wrong with you?"

"What's wrong with me? What's wrong with me is that you're freakishly tall! I feel like a woodland creature! I'm sorry... Am I hurting your feelings? I thought you wanted someone to tell you the truth! Or do you want somebody to lie to you? As far as I can see, you don't! So. Why don't you take a little second, take a breather and ask yourself. "Do I wanna be a winner, or not?"."

Blaine shook his head. "Screw this... I'm out." And he tossed the meal plan right at Dakota's feet.

"Me t-t-too," stuttered Tina.

Mercedes, Kurt, and Artie followed. But Rachel stopped them. "Wait!" They did so in anticipation. "Barbra Streisand..." Blaine raised an eyebrow. Because Barbara Streisand was obviously the first thought to come to anyones mind. "When she was a young ingenue, everyone said she'd have to get a nose job in order to become a star. Thankfully," she gave a defying look towards Dakota. "she refused."

"Where's this going, Yentl?" asked Dakota.

"Where it's going is that we don't need you. Let's face it! We're never going to be as good of dancers as Vocal Adrenaline. We're going to win because we're different."

Mercedes stepped up and moved her head sassily. "They told J. Lo her booty was too big."

"Curtis Mayfield was more successful after he became paralyzed." said Artie as he rejoined Rachel up on the chairs.

"Jim Abbot." said Finn, also stepping up.

"I have no idea who that is," interjected Kurt.

"He was a one armed pitcher for the Yankees." He continued. "Pitched a no-hitter."

Blaine took a step. "Ray Charles... Everyone said he'd never make it as a musician because of his blindness..." he smiled. "Guess they were wrong."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Misfits inspirational crap. Whatever. What's your point?"

"Our point is that you're fired." Rachel said as she stepped up to him. "And I'm taller than you."

Blaine laughed. "So. am. I!"

Dakota pouted. "Barely..." he scoffed.

XXX

Blaine caught Mercedes at her locker later that day. He walked over and gave her a condescending look. "What?" she growled.

"You know what, Mercedes. I hope you know that Kurt feels like crap because he hurt you." he scolded. "He can't control the way he feels about people! Believe me, I would know... You know when you left he was crying because he thought he lost your friendship? In Glee Club, all we have is each other, so losing you would be really hard on him."

She frowned. "He was?" He nodded and she bit her lip. "Maybe I should apologize..."

"Ya think?" he raised his eyebrows.

"Fine, I'll go apologize," she said guiltily. "But only if you come with me."

"What? Why?"

"Because he trusts you... Me, probably not so much after what I did to his ride. And it'll be less intimidating if I have a friend, at least, one that I didn't piss off, there with me."

Blaine bit his lip and thought about it for a which "Fine." he finally decided.

She smiled and they walked together to find Kurt, who was still at his locker. "Hey, Kurt." she started. He looked at her then back at his locker. Cold shoulder. "I'm really sorry I did that to your car. I'll pay for it to get fixed."

He smiled at her, glad that she forgave him, at least. "It's ok. My dad took my baby away after he found my tiara collection in my hope chest."

"You have a hope chest, too?" exclaimed Blaine. Kurt nodded and Mercedes chuckled. "I thought I was the only one,"

"And I just wanted to say, I hope it works out between you and Rachel." Blaine averted his eyes down at the ground, guilty that he wasn't a good enough friend to have the same hope. "You'll have really cute, loud, babies." Blaine smiled, partly because he knew the cute part would come from Kurt. Rachel would definitely pass on the "loud" gene.

"You did great," whispered Blaine to Mercedes as they began to walk away.

"Mercedes... Blaine... Wait up." They turned around and came back to him. His eyes started to water as he spoke and a knot formed in his stomach. "I lied to you... To both of you..." They both furrowed their eyebrows. "I don't like Rachel." He looked around to make sure nobody was around. "I... I want to tell you both something... Because you guys have been honest and some of my best friends... I-I'm gay..." The last two words came out almost a whisper.

Blaine felt a small pang in his chest when he saw that Kurt was crying. "Why didn't you just tell me?" asked Mercedes. "It might've saved your windshield," she added in an attempt to lighten the mood.

"Because I've never told anyone before..." Blaine looked at him with sorrowful eyes. He remembered what it was like to be in the closet. It wasn't too fun. He also understood the fear. It was a horrible thing when you came out and you were rejected by somebody close to you.

"You shouldn't be ashamed of who you are, Kurt." said Blaine. "You should just tell people. Especially the ones in Glee Club... I mean, I did. I turned out ok."

"Yeah, but people actually like you..." Kurt replied as more tears rolled down his face.

"They like the fact that I'm on the football team, not me... The whole point of the club is about expressing what's really inside you, remember? And you have a group of people who don't just like you, but love you and will accept you just the way you are."

Kurt looked into Blaine's hazel eyes and wondered why he couldn't just be as brave as him. "I can't do it," he finally managed with a shrug. "I'm just not that confident, I guess." With that, he shut his locker, turned away, and began walking down the hallway, leaving Mercedes and Blaine alone.

Blaine didn't even realize he was smiling until Mercedes said "What are you smiling about, Frodo?"

"Huh?" He snapped out of his trance. "Oh, uh... N-Nothing..."

She narrowed her eyes at him. "That is such bull..." A look of realization crept on her face. "YOU LIKE HIM!"

He rushed to her and clamped he mouth shut with his hand. "Sh! What if he hears you!"

She rolled her eyes and pushed his hand away. "Why don't you just tell him! I'm pretty sure he likes you too! Don't think everyone hasn't noticed the puppy heart eyes..."

Blaine shrugged and gave a sheepish half-smile. "But what if he doesn't?" He looked down, then at her. "Maybe I'm just not that confident."

XXX

A/N: This fic is an excuse to rewatch S1 and did anyone else notice how there is like a theme for each episode? I'm pretty sure the one for Acafellas  
was "confidence"...

There's probably going to be a lot of dialogue in this fic considering I have to get important lines in and add to them for Klaine... Yeah light on the Klaine (i think?) but I hope I'll make up for it next chapter.

Reviews=Faster Updates and SINGLE LADIES! PUT A RING ON IT!


	4. Preggers

^(4) There From The Start

A/N: If you haven't noticed, there's about one chapter that focuses on each ep in S1... This is the fourth... I'm gonna enjoy writing this one ;)

also, monday im leaving for vegas gor about a weeek and then afterwards im going to this choir camp to help prepare me for all state so i wont be back until the 19th :L IF i can get access to a computer during my vacayy then ill try to update and i wasnt pnanning to update until i got back but i thought i might as well since ima be gone for two weeks...

XXX

**_All the single ladies,_**  
**_All the single ladies._**

**_Now put your hands up_**

**_Whoa, whoa, oh oh oh whoa_**  
**_Whoa, whoa, oh oh oh whoa_**

Burt Hummel pressed the pause button on his son's iPod. Kurt was wearing... Burt wasn't too sure what his son was wearing actually.

"It's a unitard." explained Kurt as his father examined the situation. "Athletes use them to work out nowadays. They're very jock-chic."

It was one of those rare moments that Brittany suddenly got an idea, but being Britt, it obviously wasn't a very good one. "Yeah!" she exclaimed. "Kurt's on the football team now!" A look of horror crossed his face as he shot a terrified expression in her direction. "He's the kicker... That's the smallest one on the team, right?"

Kurt nodded hastily. "Huh..." huffed Burt. "I was on the football team in highscool before I busted my knee."

"C-cool..." stuttered Kurt nervously with a fake smile. "I guess we'll have something to talk about, now..."

"I Guess so..." Burt replied cautiously "So, uh, one of you his girlfriend?"

He didn't believe his son for one second hen he grabbed the Asian girl by her waist, pulled her close and said, "Yep... But I'm not ready to be exclusive just yet."

Burt nodded disbelievingly and headed up the stairs. "Just make sure to keep the music down." Kurt nodded as his dad headed up the stairs, and just when he thought he was in the clear, Burt backtracked and said, "Oh, and be sure to get me a ticket to your first game."

Kurt nodded nervously. As soon as Burt was gone, Kurt turned to Brittany. "What the hell, Britt?"

She shrugged. "I thought you wanted to seem straight! Football is the straightest thing I can think of... Other than bean dip." Kurt had ended up confiding in Tina and Brittany as well about his sexuality. You just don't keep something like that from your fellow single ladies.

He plopped down on a chair and buried his face in his hands. "I am so screwed!" he yelled, muffled by his hands. "What am I going to do?"

Tina sat down next to him. "Y-you can always just try out for the t-t-team. I heard their k-kicker actually s-sucks and F-F-Finn and Blaine can have pull since they're already on th-the team."

Kurt looked up and nodded as she spoke. He smiled and wrapped her in a hug. "Tina! You're a genius!"

"What about me?" asked Brittany with a clueless smile.

Kurt thought about it for a second. One needed to be careful when attempting to make small talk, or any conversation for that matter, with Brittany S. Pierce. "Uh... You can be Brittany, Brittany."

She smiled and clapped her hands together. "YAY! I'm a double Brittany! That means I'm twice as awesome!"

Tina opened her mouth to speak but Kurt stopped her. "Sh..." He held up a finger to silence her. "Trying to explain things to her will only confuse her. Let her be."

Tina's mouth formed an o and slowly nodded. "S-so you're really g-g-gonna try out f-for the team?"

He sighed and swung his head sadly towards her. "I don't think I have much of a choice..."

XXX

When Blaine walked into Glee the next day, the first thing he heard was "I'm sorry, there must be some sort of mix up. I believe I made it very clear that anything from West Side Story goes to ME. Maria is MY part. Natalie Wood was a Jew, you know. I've had a very deep personal connection to this role since the age of one." Rachel was upset that Mr. Shue had given the solo to Tina instead of her.

"Well I'm just trying to shake things up, get us out of our boxes." He explained.

"You're trying to punish me."

"I think you're being irrational."

"I think you're being unfair!"

They went on like that for a few minutes before Rachel just stormed out. "The more times she storms out of rehearsal, the less of an impact it has." Artie pointed out.

Mr. Shue looked at Tina and smiled. "Congratulations Tina."

Blaine took a seat next to Kurt and Mercedes. "What I miss?"

Mercedes shook her head and frowned. "Rachel being her usual diva self. Mr. Shue gave Tina the lead Maria solo from West Side Story and she threw a fit... And he made me a Jet! Can you believe that? Huh," she crossed her arms and her head did a snakelike motion. "I'd kill as Anita."

Kurt spotted Finn and a smile tugged at his lips. He got up and headed towards him. "Finn. I needed to ask you something."

"Thanks, but I already have a date to the prom. But I'm flattered. I know how important dances are to teen gays." He knew that they were important to Blaine, at least. Once, when he and Puck were at his house for a sleepover/COD marathon, he kept mumbling in his sleep something about a Sadie Hawkins Dance and a guy named Connor.

Blaine's face took on a weary expression when he heard (no, he wasn't eavesdropping... Ok, maybe a little) Kurt say, "I'm not gay," just a little too quickly. He knew Kurt wasn't in denial. He just wasn't ready to tell the truth, and Blaine understood. Coming out was hard. It may have been easier for him because he was well known and liked, but the only people Kurt had were the Glee kids. And even if he knew how much they love him just how he is, that didn't make the fear of coming out any less. "I just... I needed a favor. I was wondering if maybe you could have a little talk with your coach to see if I could maybe try out for kicker?"

Finn grew a shocked expression. "Uh, sure, I-I guess?"

Blaine had overheard a bit (lot) of their conversation. Why hadn't Kurt just come to him instead of Finn? He knew Blaine was on the football team with Finn, too. Maybe he just didn't like him as much... Did he not trust him?

When Kurt sat down, Blaine said, "You know, you could've just asked me..."

A look of realization passed Kurt's face. "Oh, I'm sorry Blaine... It's just that, you know, I forget you're a jock sometimes because you're so sweet, you know? You don't really act like a stereotypical football player, which, believe me, is a great thing."

Blaine blushed and smiled as he looked down a little. "You think I'm sweet?"

Crap! thought Kurt. You idiot! You need to be more careful about that! Why? He's not straight. Finn is... Shut up! And stop being moronic!

"I uh... I'm-" Kurt stuttered.

Thankfully, Mr. Shue was just about ready to get started. "Alright guys! Let's run Don't Stop from the top! Quinn, you take the alto line. A five, six, seven, eight!"

XXX

Blaine was out on the field with Kurt and Finn. Kurt was fidgeting around kind of nervously when Finn said, "Just relax, ok?"

"Yeah," continued Blaine. "Remember what we told you: keep your eye on the ball, don't try to aim it. Okay, now put your helmet on."

Kurt scrunched up his nose a little bit at the thought of ruining his hair, which he spent so much time on. "It'll mess up my hair."

"I know, the helmet's a real bitch," said Blaine. "I can't even use my hair gel with it. I have to wash it out every day before practice starts, and reapply it when it ends. Very tedious..."

Kurt laughed. "Really? That seems a bit extensive for hair gel. How do you look without it? Lemme see!" He reached for Blaine's helmet, but he ducked away too quickly.

Blaine chuckled nervously. "I'd actually rather keep my helmet on. I kind of look like medusa under here."

"Oh, come on! Just a peek?"

"No, thank you very much. When I come home from practice without reapplying, my mom always calls me Mr. Broccoli Head... Sometimes Borat... Occasionally Mop Top."

"It can't be _that_ bad! I'm sure it's just a-"

Finn, who had been awkwardly standing by, cleared his throat. "Um, guys..." One of the most awkward things that any guy had to endure would probably be watching your best friend unintentionally flirt with one of your sort of friends who was in Glee Club with you... Boy, what a dysfunctional group of friends the Glee Club was.

They awkwardly realized that they had gotten a bit too deep in their conversation and followed closely behind him as Finn began to lead the way into the middle of the field. "You know you're gonna have to take the helmet off eventually, right?" whispered Kurt.

"Never!" bantered Blaine, expressive eyebrows shooting up with a toothy smile.

"You still need to put on your helmet, Kurt." said Finn with a scolding tone in his voice.

Kurt scoffed, but put on his helmet with a little help from Blaine. He smiled at the chestnut-haired boy. "Red's your color."

Kurt smiled back at him. "Thanks for helping me out with this. Both of you. You're really cool... Crap! I forgot! I gotta go get my music, I'll be right back!" he turned to the sidelines to retrieve his music, but Finn placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" said Finn. "Are you nuts? That's only for practicing when no one's around. Look, do you know how much interference I had to run with these guys just to get you this tryout? If you do it your way, they're going to kill you."

Kurt stepped up a bit sassily with his hand on his hips towards the team captain, glaring at him with determined eyes. "My body... is like a rum chocolate soufflé. If I don't warm it up right, it doesn't rise. If I'm doing this, I'm doing it my way."

And with that, he left to go get his music, leaving Finn a bit shocked, speechless, and Blaine withholding a laugh. Finn just got told off by someone who hadn't even made the team and was at least a foot shorter than him. When Kurt was out of earshot, Blaine said. "Bitch just got owned..."

Finn glared at him and smacked him across the chest. "Shut up." Blaine couldn't help but laugh at Finn's utter disbelief, and the fact that Kurt just owned someone twice his size.

A voice spoke came up from behind them. "Watch out, Finn. You better stop flirting with Blaine's crush before he gets jealous!" They turned around to face Puck. Blaine shot him a glare. "He doesn't belong here."

"You joined Acafellas," pointed out Finn. "What's the difference?"

"I'm a stud."

Blaine scoffed at him. "Remind me why we're friends again?" he muttered.

"I can wear a dress to school and people think it's cool."

Just then, coach Tanaka blew his whistle, signaling for everyone to huddle up. Then, he went on some yelling rant about how their kicker, Langanthal, has made zero for twelve field goal attempts and was being demoted to "hydration services", AKA, water boy. "The next player who can get a football between those uprights will get his job."

Kurt pushed his way through the crowd of players. "I'm Kurt Hummel and I'll be auditioning for the role of kicker." There were snickers from some of the players and Kurt gave them a dirty look that shut them up right quick.

Kurt and Finn walked out onto the field with boom box in tow. Finn held the ball in place while Kurt prepared for the music to start.

**_I'm up on him, he up on me_**  
**_Don't pay him any attention,_**  
**_Cause if you liked it then you should've put a ring on it._**

Once Kurt started dancing, most of the guys started snickering. Kurt was dancing well, in Blaine's opinion, but the rest of the guys just thought it was funny because it was a Beyoncé song. And guys don't generally dance along with Amazonian single women. Blaine didn't understand why they were so amused. Beyoncé is fabulous.

How was it that Kurt could look so adorable while dancing to that song?_ It shouldn't be legal to be that cute_ thought Blaine. Also attractive. Very attractive... _STOP_!

"Having fun, Blaine?" asked Puck with a smirk. Blaine elbowed him in the stomach, and he doubled over slightly with a small grunt. That shut him up pretty well. Blaine had a small smile of satisfaction on his face.

Finally, Kurt kicked the ball and it went soaring through the air, straight through the uprights. Kurt Hummel had just made a field goal... From the fifty yard line. Something that hadn't been done by a McKinley High Titan in years. The players were all speechless and one even dropped their helmet they were carrying in amazement. "That's good, right?" asked Kurt as he peeled off his helmet.

Coach Tanaka rushed onto the field as Blaine watched him talk to Kurt. He turned and faced the team. "Gentlemen!" he announced, raising Kurt's hand in the air. "We have found ourselves a kicker!"

When Kurt rejoined the group as they walked inside, Blaine wrapped Kurt in a hug. "Congrats!"

As Langanthal passed them by, he huffed, "Get a room." They quickly pulled away as color rose to their cheeks. As they walked into the locker room, they smiled at each other, grateful for each other as teammates, clubmates, and more importantly, friends.

XXX

"This is garbage!" yelled Puck. "What the hell does Beyoncé have to do with football?"

Coach Tanaka had just informed the Titans that they would be taking dance classes to improve their coordination. Hey, desperate times man... Real desperate...

"Why don't you ask Kurt?" said Finn. "He seems to be the only one who can score on this team. Even in practice."

Kurt gave Puck a triumphant look, accompanied with a little fuck you smile. "So we're taking coaching advice from Lance Bass now?" retorted Noah.

Kurt and Blaine gave him a dirty look. "Guys!" called Mr. Shue. "Athletes are performers, just like singers and dancers. Think about it, Jim Brown, Dick Butkus..."

"O.J."

"... O.J ... Right. All pretty tough guys. All of them had big careers as performers. Now I don't think you guys are losing because you don't have the talent. You're losing because you don't have the right attitude."

"Oh I get it," cut in Puck. "We have to think more like Amazonian Black women."

"Think about it," continued Mr. Shue. "If you can sing and dance in front of people, everything else is easy."

Kurt cleared his throat, a signal that he wanted the floor. "Sun Tzu says that in his Art of War to never let the enemy know you. Our greatest weapon could be the element of surprise. Don't tell me that you wouldn't be on your heels if the other team started busting a move on the field."

Coach Tanaka blew his whistle (he did that a LOT and way too much in Blaine's opinion). "Ok, too much talking and not enough stretching. In the choir room in full pads in five. That's five minutes, let's go!"

When they finally made their way to the choir room, Mr. Shue tried to teach the choreography while Kurt observed them. He decided that Mr. Shue wasn't teaching them right, so he took over. "May I?"

Will stepped aside. "Watch Kurt." Well, he didn't have to tell Blaine twice.

"All right, boys." As Brad played the piano, Kurt went through the moves, saying them aloud as he ran through them. "Five, six, seven. Hand, hand. Point to the finger. Hip, head. Oh, sneak attack back to the ring. Comb through the hair. Slap the butt." Blaine blushed a bit as he realized that he was... Following... Kurt's hand and it just so happened to land on a certain part of his body that Blaine just so happened to find attractive.

Coach blew his whistle (again. Really, you'd think they were dogs or something) "Ok, that's enough for now. We'll work on it tomorrow. Just hit the showers."

Before Kurt could leave, Blaine stopped him. "Kurt! Wait up!" Kurt turned around and smiled when he saw Blaine running to catch up with him. "I uh, I wanted to talk to you about something." Kurt nodded. "Why exactly did you want to join the football team? I mean, not that I'm complaining or anything, you're awesome at it..."

Kurt froze... _Wait... Did Blaine just call me awesome? FOCUS! Oh, yeah, the question._ He looked around and waited until they were alone. "I uh... I kinda got caught in a lie with my dad and he... He thought that I was on the team as kicker. Now I am, but uh... Yeah..." He rubbed the back of his head.

"Have you... You know... Told him yet? About your sexuality?"

Kurt looked down at his shoes and shook his head. "I want to, though... I'm just- I'm so afraid."

His lower lip quivered and a second later, Blaine had his comforting arms round him, shushing him, trying to console him. "Hey, hey... It's ok, it's all gonna be alright."

"He's the only thing I have, ever since my mom died..." Blaine's heart broke hearing that Kurt had lost his mom. He didn't know about that... "And I just don't know what I would do if I lost him, too!" His voice cracked throughout his confession. He pulled back and looked at Blaine with scared eyes. "What if he kicks me out!? What if... What if he doesn't love me anymore?" His voice was barely a whisper as he reburied his head into Blaine's chest, curling his fists into balls that clung onto Blaine's shirt for dear life.

"Hey, hey. Look at me." Blaine gently placed a hand under Kurt's chin and lifted his head up until their gazes met. Neither could look away easily. "Your dad loves you. And who you are shouldn't change that. You are an /amazing/ person, Kurt. If your dad loves you as much as I-everyone in Glee does," He paused, hoping Kurt didn't catch the slip up. "He'll be fine—no, more than fine with who you are. He'll accept you for who you are and welcome you with open arms." He didn't tell him, though, that Kurt's fears had happened to him. He was too ashamed...

Kurt smiled at Blaine and he exhaled a sigh of relief. He didn't notice Blaine's mistake. "You really think so?"

Blaine shrugged and smiled. "I know so... Now, tomorrow, you're going to go out there and show them how to kick some ass!"

Kurt laughed. "Oh, hell to the yeah!" He gave Blaine a soft smile. "I'll see you tomorrow." They gave each other one last lingering hug and went their separate ways.

Blaine headed out the door into the hallway. As he was walking down the hall, he spotted Finn crouched next to a water fountain, still in his practice uniform, head buried in his arms and knees as his whole body shook in small intervals with sobs.

Blaine rushed to his side and wrapped an arm around is shoulders. "Hey! Hey! What's wrong?"

Finn looked up at him with puffy, red eyes. "I... I can't—It's Quinn... She's pregnant..."

Blaine's face fell and as he sat there, trying to comfort his best friend, only one comprehensible thought crossed his mind.

_Oh shit..._

XXX

The Titans were all getting ready in the locker room. Blaine was just putting on his pads when Kurt came and tapped him on the shoulder. He turned and faced him. "What's up, Kurt?" He smiled.

"I've decided that I'm going to do it... I'm going to tell my dad tonight... After the game..."

Blaine threw his arms around Kurt. "Oh, Kurt! That's wonderful!" He pulled away and smiled as he looked into Kurt's glasz eyes. As he was realizing how pretty his eyes were, even in the dim lights of the locker room, his heart was beating faster, but time was slowing down. Neither noticed that everyone had already left out onto the field. Blaine found his eyes beginning to close and began to lean in towards Kurt as he slowly did the same, but a voice called them back to reality.

"Kurt! Blaine!" called Finn as he headed out the doorway onto the field. "Cmon! Game's about to start!"

Blaine snapped back to reality. He exhaled and inwardly thanked Finn for keeping him from making an awkward fool out of himself. It would gave been disastrous if he'd kissed Kurt and he didn't feel the same. What had he been thinking!?

They went onto the side of the field and made a huddle. "I'm real proud of you guys," started Finn. "We really came together as a team this week."

"Yeah, a gay team," jeered Karofsky. "A big gay team of dancing gays!" Blaine and Kurt glared at him.

"Shut the fuck up, Karofsky..." growled Puck. "Blaine's a better runningback that you'll ever be a lineman! So shut your kisser before I do it for you!"

"I'd like to see you try," Karofsky snarled.

Puck lunged at him but Blaine and a few others held him back. "He's not worth it," mumbled Blaine through gritted teeth. Kurt had to admit that seeing Blaine hold back Puck was a bit more than cute... Kinda hot, actually... And cue the blushing.

"Seriously, Finn." interrupted James. "It was fun in practice, but we can't do this out there, we'll be even more of a joke."

Kurt gave an expectant look towards Finn, waiting for him to say something. Finn just put his helmet on and ran  
onto the field with the rest of the team.

As he rushed onto the field, Blaine flashed Kurt an apologetic smile and mouthed "I wish I could do more."

Kurt nodded understandingly and mouthed back "Good luck."

The game started off ok. They weren't getting their asses handed to them like they usually did, they were only down 0-6 because the other team's kicker missed the extra point. Luckily, they were playing good defense and were able to prevent the other team from scoring. Blaine caught an interception, but only got about ten yards before he was tackled. Still, that at least gave them possession.

Unfortunately, the other team was playing good defense as well. There was ten seconds left. Finn placed the ball in position. He looked around and began feeling a lot of pressure. His teammates were relying on him. The clock was ticking. Blaine was in position, giving wary glances to the clock. "Snap the ball already!" he thought.

Instead, when the clock got down to two seconds, Finn yelled "Time-out!" Everyone scattered from their positions. "We gotta do it," Finn said to Puck.

"We will be jokes for the rest of our lives!"

"We're already jokes!" said Blaine. "We gave up any dignity we had left when we lost to that school for the deaf." There was a desperation in his voice that may have helped in convincing Puck.

"I don't wanna be a Lima loser for the rest of my life, Puck." begged Finn. Puck looked at Quinn. She was carrying HIS baby... He didn't want his kid to remember him like that, even if he or she didn't know who his or her father really was. She thought he was a Lima Loser? He'd prove her wrong and then maybe... Just maybe... She'd want to be with him instead of Finn.

Suddenly, number 99 on the opposing team started jeering at Puck. "Hey 20! Your momma's so fat, her cereal bowl comes with it's own life guard! Like Bay Watch!"

Puck turned around. He'd heard enough of this crap. "Hey ankle grabber! I had sex with your mother. No, literally. I cleaned your pool, and then I sex with her in your bed. Nice StarWars sheets." That shut him up right quick. Puck turned back to Finn. "Let's do this!" Blaine smiled with a nod and the trio did their signature three way fist bump.

The rest of the football players crowded around Finn in a huddle. "Ring On It on three." Everyone looked around in disbelief. They were actually gonna do this? "Yeah," said Finn, reassuring himself and his teammates. "Ring On It on three! One, two, three, break!"

They clapped their hands once and went into their positions. Finn waved his hand in the air, signaling the tech guys to start the music, which came blaring out the speakers a few seconds later.

_**All the single ladies,**_  
_**All the single ladies**_

_**Now put your hands up!**_

_**I'm up on him, he up on me**_  
_**And did I mention?**_  
_**Don't pay him any attention**_

Burt watched in amazement and disbelief, hoping that he hadn't maybe have had one too many beers then fallen asleep. But then again, he probably would've never imagined a group of teenage football players dancing out on a field to the song "Single Ladies."

**_Cause if he liked then he shoulda put a ring on it_**  
**_If you liked then you shoulda put a ring on it_**  
**_Don't be mad when you see that he want it_**

**_Whoa, whoa, oh, oh, oh, oh_**

The players all suddenly stopped dancing and reclaimed their positions. "HUT!" Finn hiked the ball and looked for an open man. Blaine was open momentarily, but got tackled before Finn could make the pass. He saw Puckerman open about ten yards from the endzone, closed his eyes, and threw the ball as hard as he could.

It was a Hail Mary...

Puck caught the ball and ran to the endzone, narrowly escaping a runningback reaching for him, and dove straight into it. The crowd exploded into cheers, Puck did an obnoxious victory dance, and the Titans went wild.

Yeah, it might've been the weirdest play Burt had ever seen in his entire life, but hey... It worked didn't it?

Off in the sidelines, coach Tanaka grabbed Kurt by the shoulders. "You're up, kid. You make this, we win... You make this... You die a legend."

"Can I pee first?"**

Coach Tanaka sent him out onto the field with a ball. He handed the ball to Blaine who was going to hold it in place. "You can do this..." he whispered. Kurt smiled. "We believe in you... I believe in you." Kurt's heart fluttered, and for the first time in a long time, his smile reached his ears.

Burt watched his son from the bleachers, concerned for his safety. What if one of those guys broke past the wall and tackled him? "He's so little..." he muttered with worry in his voice and furrowed eyebrows, arms crossed.

Kurt raised his hand and waved it, cueing the music that followed momentarily.

**_All the single ladies,_**  
**_All the single ladies_**

**_I'm up on him, he up on me_**  
**_Don't pay him any attention_**  
**_Cause I've cried my tears_**  
**_For three good years_**  
**_You can't be mad at me_**

**_Whoa, whoa oh, oh, oh_**  
**_Whoa, whoa oh, oh, oh_**

Kurt kicked the ball and it went soaring. It seemed to take forever... Kurt watched the ball, praying to some unknown force that it'd go in. That somehow, finally, he'd make his dad proud of him.

The ref watched and threw his arms up in a "score" motion.

The crowd exploded in cheers as they came to the realization that The Titans had just won their first game. The football players came in a rush from the sidelines towards Kurt and some even lifted him up on their shoulders.

Kurt looked to the stands and smiled when he saw Burt pointing to him and yelling, "That's my son!" It felt wonderful that his father was so proud of him. Burt had claimed him. He wanted people to know he was his son. He was proud of him. He hoped he would stay proud of him, even after what he'd tell him later that night.

The players finally put him down and Blaine rushed to Kurt and wrapped him in a hug. "You did it, Kurt! You won the game!"

"I know! We won... And damn does it feel good!" Kurt whooped and cheered while Blaine laughed in enjoyment. It was nice seeing Kurt so happy. It made him happy. Just to share the joy with someone you care about. It's the best thing ever.

They kept on cheering all the way to the locker room. After the majority of the team had left, Kurt walked up to Blaine and smiled sweetly. "So. Blaine. Since I, you know, won the game for you guys," Blaine rolled his eyes playfully. "I was wondering..." He took a step closer. "If maybe..." Another step. Blaine swallowed. Was this really happening? Or was he dreaming? Maybe he got a concussion when that linebacker tackled him. "I could..." Kurt quickly reached up to Blaine's head and pulled off his helmet as he squealed with delight.

"Hey!" Blaine threw his towel over his hair to keep the atrocity out of sight.

Kurt jumped across the bench in the middle of the hall with Blaine's helmet in tow as they played a small game of Keep Away. "Ah, ah, ah!" he said as he shook his finger back and forth. "If you want this back, you have to show me your hair."

Blaine's eyes widened. "You can keep the helmet, then. It's not even mine... Technically, it's the school's." He smirked slyly and shrugged.

Kurt groaned and threw his head back. "Damn you, technicalities." He stepped over the bench towards Blaine and pulled out his best puppy-dog eyes. "Please? After all, I did help you guys win..."

"Not the puppy-dog eyes! How did you know my weakness?" he bantered. No Blaine definitely wasn't staring at Kurt's bottom lip which was pouted outward. And he most certainly was not wondering what they tasted like!

Kurt smirked and raised an eyebrow. "It's my job to know..." he whispered playfully.

Blaine gulped, a shiver making its way down his spine. There was something about the way Kurt had said that that was... Well, sexy... He sighed and gave in before his mind could be taken over by undapper thoughts. "Just... Don't laugh, alright?" He removed the towel from his head revealing a bushel of curls resting on his head.

Kurt smiled as if fighting a laugh and took a step towards him. "You have nice curls. Unruly. Really unruly. But they're sort of... Charming. And soft... Mousse would do you wonders." Kurt reached up and began to play with Blaine's hair a little bit. He didn't even realize it, but once he did, he blushed lightly and backed away. "Sorry... I um... It was soft..."

"It's ok... I didn't mind."

Things were silent for a while. The two just kept staring at each other and it was there, in that dim lighted and smelly locker room that Blaine first realized: Holy crap... I'm in love with Kurt Hummel.

Little did he know that Kurt was having the exact same thoughts about Blaine. Kurt tossed him his helmet back and he caught it with ease. "I'll see you in Glee Club tomorrow." He turned and smiled with a wave. "Bye, Blaine."

He left that locker room walking on clouds.

XXX

Burt walked down the stairs into his son's room to find him spraying something on his face. "Nighttime skincare is a big part of my postgame ritual." Explained his son.

Burt nodded. "I don't know what to say about that... But, uh... I was really proud of you tonight, Kurt. I wish your mom would have been there. I mean, alive."

"Thanks." Kurt whispered with a small smile. Burt was heading up the stairs when Kurt stopped him. "Dad. I... Have something that I want to say." Burt walked towards his son. He knew this day was coming ever since his son was three, and was glad that at least he wasn't hiding it from him. But he was still unsure if he was ready... "I'm..." he swallowed. " glad that you're proud of me, but I don't want to lie anymore. Being a part of... The Glee Club and football has really showed me that I can be anything. And what I am... is... I'm gay." The last two words came out (no pun intended) -(omfg this is why i dont stay up past 2) as little more than a puff of breath.

Burt nodded. "I know."

"Really?"

"I've known since you were three. All you wanted for your birthday was a pair of sensible heels... I guess I'm not totally in love with the idea, but if that's who you are, there's nothing I can do about it. And I love you just as much. Okay?" Burt placed a comforting hand on Kurt's shoulder. Kurt, so overwhelmed with relief, pulled himself towards his father and held him close, letting the tears fall. He couldn't believe that it had been that easy. And his father still loved him. "Thanks for telling me, Kurt." They pulled away and Kurt nodded and as Burt headed up the stairs he took his seat in front of his mirror. Burt paused and turned. "You're sure, right?"

"Yeah, dad. I'm sure."

"Just checking."

XXX

The next day, Kurt walked into Glee Club and sat next to Blaine. "I did it. I told my dad."

Blaine smiled at him. "That's great!"

"Yeah, and he said he still loves me no matter what and I'm just... I'm so happy. But I still have a few other people to tell. I wanna tell the Glee kids." Blaine nodded.

Kurt stepped up to Mr. Shue. "Mr. Shue, can I have the floor? There's something that I want to say to everyone here."

He nodded. "Sure thing, Kurt. But first, let's give a big Glee welcome to our two newest members. Noah Puckerman and Mike Chang." They waved and took a seat.

"I thought Glee Club was quote unquote "loserville", Puck?" Blaine pointed out with his eyebrows raised.

"I changed my mind..." he answered, eyes darting to Quinn. Blaine narrowed his eyebrows a little, but he brushed it off as a gesture of friendship. Finn had probably told Puck about her, too.

Kurt took a stance at the front of the room. "Hey guys... I uh... There's something I want to tell you, because in the few weeks we've known each other, we've become more than just teammates... We've become friends. And friends don't keep things that make them who they are-"

He was cut off by Santana. "Oh, will you just cut to the chase and come out of the closet already?"

Blaine glared at her. "Shut up and let him finish!"

Santana glared back at him. "Well, we need to practice! We don't have time for your boyfriend to come clean!"

"It would've taken five minutes. And we're not dating!"

"Yet... It's an inevitability because the sexual tension is so thick that I could cut it with a freaking knife! Oh, and that's five minutes that we could've used practicing!"

"GUYS!" yelled Mr. Shue. "Blaine, chill. Santana, let Kurt finish... Now, what was it that you wanted to say Kurt."

He just laughed. He really wasn't as nervous as he thought he'd be, even with two new jocks in the club. Seeing Santana making remarks like that showed that she didn't care whether he was gay or straight, but that she wanted to win. Just like everyone else, she cared. And seeing Blaine defend him showed him that he had true friends here. Two types of people... "Actually, Santana pretty much covered it. For those of you who don't know, I am in fact, gay." He shrugged with a small sheepish smile.

Mr. Shue smiled. "Thank you for telling us, Kurt. Thank you for showing us the true meaning of what Glee Club is." Kurt retook his seat next to Blaine.

"Wait..." questioned Brittany. "Does that mean we have to be gay to be in Glee Club?"

"No..." Mercedes shook her head. "Just... No, Britt."

Mr. Shue nodded in hopes that she would just let it go. "Let's start off with tonight from West Side Story. Tina."

Rachel stormed out if the room immediately, yelling "I quit!" and slamming the door behind her.

Blaine sighed. "Well this is just great..." He turned to Kurt and smiled. "It's not as bad as it seems, is it?"

Kurt returned the smile. "I don't think things ever are."

XXX

Later that night, Blaine was sitting on the loving room couch, a bowl of spaghetti in his lap. His mother took a seat next to him, also with a bowl of spaghetti, as she changed the channel to the local news.

"Hey! That was a new episode of Drop Dead Diva! Now I'll never know if she went to Napa with Tony!"

She gave him a dismissive wave of his hand. "YouTube it later, Shirley Temple..."

He nodded with pursed lips. "Hmm. That's a new one..." His eyes went wide as he slurped up a mouthful of noodles, nearly choking on them. The cause of his near death? The next segment on the news. "Holy! Mother of! Is that!?"

His mom finished the thought. "Isn't that the batshit crazy cheer coach that goes to your school?"

Blaine nodded, mouth hanging open and rendered speechless. They gave her her own segment!? His mom reached for the remote and turned it up. "What're you doing? Did you just not point out the fact that she's batshit crazy?"

"Yeah, but she may have a point... Just listen..."

**_There's not much difference between a stadium full of cheering fans, and an angry crowd screaming abuse at you... They're both just making a lot of noise. How you take it..._**

**_Is up to you..._**

XXX

A/N: nananananananananananana... SQUIRRELS!

I thought I had something important to say, but I guess not soooooo... TRAINS!

Oh wait yeah...

**Hands down. Best. Line. Of. Glee. Ever.

I like Blaine's mom :) do you?

Review? pwease?


	5. The Rhodes Not Taken

^(5) There From The Start

A/N: I just wanna start of by saying RIP Cory. He will be dearly missed... this chapter is dedicated to him.

* * *

**_Da, da, da, da_**  
**_Da, da, da, da_**  
**_Da, da, da, da_**  
**_Da, da, da, da_**

**_A singer in a smokey room_**  
**_The smell of wine and cheap perfume_**  
**_For a smile they can share the night it goes on and on and on and on_**

Quinn suddenly doubled over and headed out the door in a hurry. "Can we please talk about the giant elephant in the room?" asked Kurt one the music stopped and the blond was out of earshot.

"The undeniable sexual tension between you and The Hobbit?" cut in Santana.

They both glared at her. "First off, it _is_ possible for two gay guys to be friends without having feelings for each other, and second... It's Rachel. Rachel's the elephant." Puck sniggered a little bit. "We can't do it without her."

"That's not true," started Mr. Shue. "We may have to layer Santana and Mercedes over Quinn's solo but... We'll be fine."

"Maybe for the invitationals," began Artie. "But not for the sectionals, and certainly not for the regionals."

"Wheelchair kid's right." said Puck. "That Rachel chick makes me want to light myself on fire, but she can sing."

"Rachel left, guys..." Will pointed out. "She's gone. Now, if we're gonna make this thing work, we can't look back... Alright, take five, guys." He waved them off. They deserved a bit of a break. Despite the drams, they'd been working hard.

Kurt, Blaine, and Mercedes sat in a little triangle in the choir room. "You really think we can do it without her?" asked Mercedes

Kurt shook his head. "Nope. We're screwed."

"Hey!" exclaimed Blaine. "Don't talk like that! Even if she was the best singer, we're still bursting at the seams with talent here. We can still do this..."

* * *

The next day, Mr. Shue walked in and introduced the New Direction to a thin, petite woman with blonde hair and a southern accent. "Guys, I'd like to introduce you to someone very special. This is April Rhodes. She's our newest member." She made finger guns and clicked her tongue at them.

"Wait," started Finn. "So old people can join Glee Club now?"

"Old, huh?" remarked April sassily. "You guys look like the world's worst Benetton ad." They all glanced at each other warily. Did she really think they knew what the hell Benetton was?

"Mr. Shue," began Artie. "This seems like a terrible idea."

"April is a great singer. And she never graduated." An adult was supposed to be a role-model... A woman who never graduated was the perfect role-model for a group of impressionable teenagers. Perfect...

Mercedes cut in. "We appreciate what you're trying to do, but she's no Rachel."

"Who's Rachel?" asked April.

"Sh-she's kind of our star," stuttered Tina.

"Your star, eh? Well where is she?"

"She left," said Blaine regretfully. "To be the lead in Cabaret."

April chuckled. "Hey Tinkles, give me "Maybe This Time" in B flat." she said to Brad. "And don't let me catch you snoozing."

A slow, jazzy, bluesy piano intro began to play as April began to sing.

(quick A/N: this is all by memory since it's 1am and It's not the full song...)

Maybe this time  
I'll be a winner

**_Cause everybody_**  
**_They love a winner_**  
**_So nobody loved me!_**

**_All the odds are,_**  
**_They're in my favor_**

**_Lady Peaceful_**  
**_Lady Happy_**  
**_That's what I long to be!_**

**_It's gonna happen_**  
**_Happen sometime_**

**_Maybe this time_**  
**_I'll win!_**  
**_Win!_**

April blew the last high note completely out of the water as everyone stared in awe. Nobody ever thought it possible for someone to outshine Rachel Berry. But apparently, nobody told April Rhodes what impossible meant.

"Stick that in your pipe and smoke it..."

* * *

A few days later, April caught Blaine in the hallway. "Hey, young Burt Reynolds!"

Blaine turned around, looking for who had called him and was met with the smiling face of April. "Um... Hey, April..." He narrowed his eyes slightly. He had never really been too keen on her presence in the Glee Club. She was always loud, even in class and very distracting. She drew way too much attention to herself in a group of misfits that were desperately just trying to survive.

"Look," she started. "Let's not beat around the bush. You need my help, I want to help. It's obvious that you fancy Kurt."

His eyes widened. "I-it is?"

She laughed. "No! But now I gotcha to 'fess up!" He cursed under his breath. Mercedes knew, and now April knew. He trusted 'Cedes... April? Not so much. "Listen up sweetie." she slung her arm over his shoulder. "What you need to do, is make him jealous." He raised his eyebrows. "That's how I get all the guys! Or I give them a lap dance... Oh! You could always get him drunk! May have help you out a bit on that one..."

Blaine considered telling her that he was never going to do that in a million years, but decided it wasn't worth the time it would waste. It really wasn't that hard to try and outsmart her. She never graduated, after all. "Um... Ok, thanks for the advice, April." He put on a fake smile and nodded as she stumbled away.

He shook his head and walked in the opposite direction to see Kurt and Ms. Pillsbury talking in the middle of the hallway. He looked hungover. His eyes were wide and had bags under them, his normally well brushed hair was all ruffled. Cute as a button, but definitely hungover.

Kurt mumbled, "Oh, Bambi. I cried so hard when those hunters shot your mommy." then he suddenly doubled over and puked all over Ms. Pillsbury's shoes.

Blaine rushed to Kurt's side as he put his hand over Blaine's shoulder. He looked up at him. "Harry?" he asked, eyes wide and clutching onto Blaine's shirt. "You _are_ the last Horcrux! Dumbledore! He's been lying!" Kurt burped a little bit and Blaine had a feeling that he was about to barf again.

"Dear God," mumbled Blaine. Kurt reeked of alcohol. "Let's get you to the nurse's office."

They hadn't walked two steps when Kurt passed out. "Perfect..." Blaine groaned and picked Kurt up and carried him to the nurse's office. He was actually pretty light for a sixteen year old boy.

People gave them curious glances as they made their way down the hallway. After all, it wasn't every day that you saw a drunken sophomore boy being carried by a sober one.

Blaine looked at Kurt's face and smiled a little. He was actually really cute when he was asleep. Well, cuter.

"My, um, friend threw up then passed out," he explained as they arrived to the office.

The nurse nodded. "We'll call his parents to pick him up, but you're free to go."

"Uh, is it alright if I stay with him? Just to, you know, keep an eye on him."

The nurse smiled knowingly and nodded. "Sure thing, kid." She winked at him and he blushed slightly. Was he really that transparent?

He laid Kurt down on the cot and sat down next to him. He actually looked really cute when he wad asleep, as Blaine kept noticing. Not that he wasn't cute awake. He smiled lightly and absentmindedly began stroking his hair. It was so soft and just... Really nice... He didn't even realize he was doing it until about a half hour later, when the nurse had left to lunch, and he was interrupted by the clearing of someone's throat.

Blaine quickly retracted his hand and looked up to see a man wearing a baseball cap, jeans, and a button up plaid shirt with a vest over it. "Oh, um, hi." Blaine stood up and offered him a hand. "You must be Mr. Hummel. Kurt talks about you all the time."

"Just call me Burt," He took his hands out from his pockets and shook Blaine's hand. "You must be Blaine. Kurt talks about you a lot."

Blaine smiled. "He does? What uh, what does he say?"

Burt shrugged and walked over to Kurt's cot. "That you're a nice guy. You understand what he's going through because of your uh... sexuality and you're in Glee Club."

Blaine nodded. After a few seconds of silence, he said, "He really loves you, you know?" He turned and faced Burt. "He was afraid that when he came out to you, you'd kick him out, or he'd lose you. You're the most important thing in the world to him."

Burt's eyes had began to water slightly. "I would never do that.., He is the most important thing in the world to me, too... Hell, he IS my world. He reminds me of his mother so much. His personality. The way he cooks." a smile tugged at his lips. "His voice... Ah... His mother was so much better at dealing with this whole parenthood thing." He began to fiddle with his hat, like someone with hair would rub their fingers through their hair. "I have no idea how to raise a teenager, let alone a gay son... I just hope I don't screw up too bad."

Burt took a seat on the next cot, and Blaine took a seat next to him. "Kurt is the most moral, compassionate, person I have ever met. I'd say you're doing a pretty good job."

Burt bit his lip and nodded. He turned to Blaine with his eyebrows slanted upwards. "You don't think he likes you, do you? Cause I don't think I'm ready for that."

Blaine laughed nervously. "Um... No. I don't think he likes me..."

"Do you like him?"

Thankfully, before Blaine could reply, Kurt began to stir in his sleep. His eyes fluttered open. "Dad?"

Burt chuckled. "Yeah, kiddo. It's me."

"What happened?" he asked as he shook his head. "The last thing I remember is Bambi looking at me all funny, then puking... And something about Harry and the horcrux."

Blaine laughed. "Heh. Yeah, you just puked all over the shoes of the biggest germophobe in the world. Then you passed out. I had to carry you here."

Kurt facepalmed. "How long have I been out."

"About half an hour."

"Now," said Burt with a condescending tone in his voice. "I can smell the booze on you from here. So I can either go into a long lecture about how you should never ever do this again until you're legal-"

"Don't worry, dad." started Kurt. "I don't think I'm drinking EVER again... That was a horrible, _horrible_ experience."

"MmmHmm." Burt pursed his lips and tried not to smile. He knew Kurt would keep his word. "Come on, kiddo. There's a glass on water and some Seltzer waiting for you at home."

Kurt hopped off the cot and grabbed his bag that Blaine had also carried in. "Bye, Blaine." Kurt waved as he walked out the door. "See you tomorrow. And thanks... For everything."

Once again, that same goofy smile might as well have been burned onto Blaine's face. "See you tomorrow, Kurt."

* * *

The Glee Club were all in the choir room, huddled around the piano, trying to figure out why Quinn had been missing practice lately and throwing up so much.

"Maybe," began Kurt. "Quinn is lactose intolerant."

"That doesn't explain all the crying," pointed out Artie.

"M-maybe she just doesn't like the group." said Tina.

Puck stopped strumming his guitar and cut in. "Are you all _that_ stupid? Seriously? I bet you thought Bert and Ernie were just roommates."

"Puck..." said Blaine with a warning tone in his voice. "Don't even think about it."

"Maybe," he stood up. "Quinn's—"

Blaine stood up and clapped a hand over his mouth. "Don't do this to him! He's your best friend!" he growled.

Puck pushed Blaine's hand off his mouth. "Why not?" He raised his voice so that everyone could hear. "They deserve to know the truth! The truth that Quinn's knocked up!"

Blaine backed away. He shook his head as he looked Puck up and down. "I can't believe you..." he whispered. They were supposed to be three best friends... Best friends didn't do that to each other. "You didn't have to make it sound so... Vulgar!"

"Oh, like it wasn't vulgar when they made it!? I wish everybody would stop acting like Quinn's so damn innocent all the time!"

"Will you just shut up! Finn is your best friend! Have some compassion and stop being such an ass!"

"Oh, I'm being the ass? I'm not the one who's worrying more about himself than his pregnant girlfriend!"

There was a shocked silence, then, "Who's the baby's daddy?" asked Mercedes.

"Who do you think?" growled Puck. There was an expectant silence. "Finn!"

Suddenly Rachel walked through the door. "Yes, you've heard right- I am returning to Glee Club! In lieu of flowers, please send all donations to a socially conscious charity of your choice."

They all pretty much ignored her and returned to their chatter. "This is a hot damn mess," said Mercedes.

"Uh, I'm sorry; I thought I'd be welcomed back with a tad more enthusiasm."

"Sorry," piped up Kurt. "Glee club has just been rocked with it's first scandal."

"Quinn's nocked up," said Mercedes.

"And the baby daddy?" said Kurt. "Finn Hudson."

A look of horror passed her face and she stormed out of the room, slamming the door behind her. "Anybody even understand why she stormed out?" asked Artie.

"Maybe she just walks like that," suggested Brittany. "Like penguins march and fly..." They all gave her curious looks. It was obvious that Britt didn't get to class too often...

Blaine shook his head and sighed. "You're right, 'Cedes. We are in a hot damn mess..." He gave a glare in Puck's direction, who shot it right back at him and then went back to idly tuning his guitar.

* * *

The New Directions stood in the choir room, warming up for their invitationals when April stumbled into the room.

"Hey roller boy," she told Artie. "Handsome." She walked up to Blaine. "You got a little something right... There." she pulled his face down to hers and kissed him very sloppily. Blaine's eyes went wide and he fought her by pulling his head away. Next to them, Kurt was glaring daggers at her... If looks could kill, April Rhodes would not be breathing.

Thankfully, Mr. Shue pulled her away, but she still managed to squeeze Kurt's nose and yell, "_HONK_!" The adults spoke for a while, while the kids talked amongst themselves.

"That was a horrible experience I hope I never have to relive," said Blaine, eyes wide and shaking his head.

"I think I just got nose-raped," said Kurt, rubbing his nose. He turned to Blaine. "Heh, at least she didn't turn you straight. That would've been a real bummer."

Kurt mentally facepalmed and hoped that Blaine didn't decode what that meant... If it meant anything, which it couldn't have... "Yeah, no... At least now I know that I'm 100% gay. I hope I never have to kiss another girl except for roles in musicals for the rest of my life my life..."

Santana had been eavesdropping nearby. "Is there a _boy_ you'd like to kiss?" she asked with a smirk.

Blaine gaze drifted to Kurt and he blushed slightly. "No one in particular," he lied.

Before Santana could make another remark, they were called to the stage. They got in their positions as April took the lead in "Last Name," by Carrie Underwood.

They all danced around her and finally ended up putting her on top of Artie for the final pose. They went back into the choir room and changed costumes.

"We did awesome!" said Blaine.

"Screw that!" said Puck. "We kicked ass!"

They were all laughing an having fun when Will walked in. "We were a hit!" exclaimed Artie. He rolled over and gave Mr. Shue a hi-five.

"Wh-wh-where's April?"

"You were right," said Kurt. "She'd massacre Mariah in a diva-off."

He shrugged. "April is amazing... But she's not in the Glee Club anymore." Everyones face fell and silence followed their grim expressions. She was the reason they were doing so well. "I screwed up bringing her here. It was about me and Glee Club is supposed to be about you guys. You don't need her to be great."

"But we need her for the second act," pointed out Mercedes.

"I'll just have to go out there and tell them to cut the show short." There was disappointed glances shared among the New Directions. "Hey, guys. You were great! Don't worry... There will be other performances."

They all looked down sadly. They really wanted to keep performing. Rachel came out of nowhere and walked into the room. "When a star can't perform on broadway, her understudy fills in... I'd be happy to fill in for her?"

"Since when are you willing to be an understudy?" asked Mercedes.

"Since I quit the musical."

"Really?" asked Kurt. "Why?"

"I realized that being a star didn't make me feel as good as being your friend." The New Directions, with the exception of the Cheerios, all had smiles on their faces. Rachel was bitchy, annoying, and a diva... But she was their friend.

Quinn shook her head. "You don't know the choreography."

"Then I guess we'll just have to give her extra help," said Finn with a smile.

The Cheerios looked pissed off, but everyone else bust out in cheers. If Rachel rejoined, that meant they got to keep performing.

As Blaine headed out onto the stage, he passed Kurt and a smile passed between the two.

Everyone filed into their positions in the blackness of the stage. The lights came on and they began their performance.

**_Can_**  
**_anybody find me..._**  
**_Somebody to_**  
**_Love_**

**_Each morning I wake up I die a little_**  
**_Can barley stand on my feet_**  
**_Take a look in the mirror_**  
**_And say lord whatcha doing to me_**

The music faded and they began walking in two separate circles. As Kurt and Blaine passed each other, they smiled at each other.

**_Can you find me somebody to love_**  
**_Find me somebody to love_**  
**_Find me somebody to love_**  
**_Find me somebody to love_**

**_Somebody to_**  
**_Love_**

They all ended up in one line together, everyones hands linked as they raised them up. Kurt and Blaine had been next to each other, so they held their linked hands up in the air, along with the rest of the New Directions.

Both were amazed to find that they were actually kind of disappointed when they had to let go.

The song finished and as the lights faded, everyone went back to the choir room to tether their things and go home. As Kurt was leaving, he felt a hand on his shoulder. He turned to face Blaine. "You did great," he said.

Kurt smiled. "So did you." He grabbed his bag and turned to leave but Blaine stopped him again.

"Hey, Kurt?"

"Yeah?"

"I was-" Blaine stopped himself. What if Kurt said no? He just couldn't do it. He couldn't ask Kurt out... "Never mind... I'll see you tomorrow."

Kurt smiled and waved. "See you tomorrow."

* * *

A/N: BLECH! I'm soooo sorry! I just couldn't think of a good way to end this chapter :(

I think I'll enjoy writing the next one because it's gonna be "Vitamin D"... Who remembers THIS?

**_"God, it's a beautiful day! Who wants to run though the number? I think we should run though the number! Then afterwards we can all go to Habitat for Humanity and build houses for the homeless!"_**


End file.
